New Species
by Neptune-Saturn
Summary: If vampires exist, why not everything else? The Hunters have some runaway weapons they raised for years. The Hunters are desperate to get them back. These weapons can easily rival pureblood powers. Slight AU. Warning: slight spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone, Sat

Hey everyone, Sat. back! I decided to do this to kill some time that I have and to avoid actual work. This is something I haven't tried yet: a Vampire Knight fic. Well, I've been mauling this idea for a while now and I'm just gonna put it out there. Personally, I don't like YuukiXKaname, but it works for my purpose. I own nothing familiar. In any case, read on my little readers! P.S: Check out my other story in Naruto. I just finished it.

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Chapter one: Lasting Impressions

"Is this the smartest idea?" a blonde girl, with hair to her shoulders, asks in the back seat of a traveling car.

"No, but it's the safest right now," a tall, ebony girl with short hair colored dark purple says in the front seat, "The treaty and neutral territory will help us hide a bit better."

"Explain why you got the front seat again?" a long brown haired girl asks.

"Because she is taller than you and it's my car," the driving girl, that has mid-back blonde hair responds, not moving her vision from the road, "Plus, she's a bit older than you, so that means she gets the front."

The tall brunette grumbles about close friend being traitors in cars and being cramped in the back of an old little red car while fiddling with her dark blue streaks in her hair. The other brunette with short hair, who is the second shortest of the little group of five, smacks the taller girl's arm in a half sleep daze. These five have been traveling for a few days, now. Each girl is annoyed with the constant driving, but they will reach their destination today. The driving girl refuses to let anyone else drive her "old baby" as she calls it.

"We're here!" the blonde in the back seat yells, pointing at the school as best she could.

"Couldn't let me sleep a little longer, huh?" the sleepy brunette grumbles.

"Get your lazy butt up. We can sleep in beds tonight," the driving girl says with a grin, "'Sides, my old baby is tired of carrying your big ol' butt anyway."

"Shut it, I'm only like, one hundred and ten pounds or something."

"That's why we mess with you," the ebony girl says, twisting to grin at the skinny girl.

Suddenly, every girl stiffens. This motion is either from surprise or realization. These five ladies in this little car are certainly not _average_ humans, but they are humans. A few of them mutter astonished sounds, while the two in the front mutter curses in different languages.

"So the rumors of this place were true," the driver, Ana says with a dark tone.

"As true as us, it seems," the other blonde, Rena says with a slight astonished sigh.

"Heh, let's see how they're doing with so many humans running around them," the ebony girl, Angelica, says with a semi-vicious grin.

"This is going to an interesting school year, huh Kaitlin?" the taller brunette, Sarah, asks with a smug smirk.

"It's not gonna be boring," Kaitlin says with a grin and crossed arms.

The five drive under the metal arch that says Cross Academy and up to the main building. Ana contacted the headmaster a week before about enrolling, even if it is during the middle of the second semester. She made up the usual sop stories of neglected childhood friends and parents too busy for their children and blah, blah, blah. Each girl did feel sorry for children in this position, but it could as be worse. It could always be worse.

"How many?" Angelica asks with a sudden serious attitude that shouldn't be in a sixteen year old.

"A lot. Good news is that there is only one pureblood, Level A. The rest are mostly Level B or C, at best. We shouldn't underestimate any of them," Ana responds in a slight mechanical voice.

"What's the emotional status of the place, Sarah?" Angelica asks, twisting in her seat again to look at the questioned girl. Rolling down the window some, Sarah sticks her hand out and concentrates for a minuet. Soon, she retracts her hand and rolls the window up.

"Happy, peaceful, excited, and only a little bit of tension here and there. All in all: good environment, which means the humans don't know about the vampires at the school. Go figure," she rattles off with a shrug.

"This'll be fun," Ana mutters, running her hand through her hair and ruffling the copper and black streaks peaking out from under her blonde hair. Turning off to the parked car, she gets out of her little vehicle.

The group exits Ana's car with stretching, cracking and happily exclamations of not having to be squished in a little space. After locking the doors, the girls head in to the main building and follow the instructions Headmaster Cross gave Ana over the phone when she called the first time. They thankfully made it on a Saturday afternoon, which means avoiding feature classmates a little longer. Ana raises her hand to knock on the door, but stops, frozen to the spot.

"Holy Mother. I didn't expect this," she shakily mutters.

"What's wrong?" Rena asks in a low voice.

"It's faint, but another Level A, pureblood is on the other side of this door. The energy seems to be hidden for some reason."

"Well, there is no feeling of hostility or tension for attack. Knock and see if we've run into another dead end," Sarah nearly whispers.

The eldest girl hesitates for a moment, and then knocks. She trusts these girls with her life and more. A cheery invitation sounds through the polished wooden door and Ana slowly twists the knob and opens the door. Walking over the threshold, she lets the others in. Inside the well decorated office are two cheerful people; a man with long blonde hair pulled in a ponytail, a green shawl wrapped over his shoulders and glasses. Standing next to him is a pale and skinny girl with short brown hair and reddish-brown eyes.

"Welcome, ladies," Headmaster Cross says standing up with his arms opened wide, "I'm so pleased that you have decided to come to our humble little school. This is my sweet daughter Yuuki. I'm sorry that my dear son, Zero, is a little preoccupied to not be here. Please have a seat."

"No thank you, Headmaster. We've been cramped in a car for three days straight," Kaitlin says for all of them. None of them wants to sit down.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves," she continues, "My name is Kaitlin Black."

"I'm Rena McLaughlin."

"I'm Sarah Wave."

"My name is Angelica Smith."

"Ana Rose."

"Well, I'll let my darling daughter show you ladies around and where your rooms are. Sadly, the uniforms will not be ready until Wednesday," Headmaster Cross informs them, taking his seat, "Just tell your teachers on Monday that they won't be ready until then."

"Thank you Headmaster, for everything," Kaitlin says with a bow and the others bow as well. They got used to Japanese customs after a few years of living in the country.

The group leaves, following Yuuki down the hallway. She rambles about some of the history of the buildings and the school, where the dorms are, the library, the cafeteria, the rules and the infamous Night Class. While she talks, Angelica slows down to walk with Ana at the back of the group. She grasps the shorter girl's hand and a question forms in Ana's mind. Angelica has slight telepathic abilities.

'Who is the other pureblood?'

Ana forms a picture of Yuuki's face in her mind, finding it easier to answer with pictures than with words. It puts strain on both her and Angelica. The taller girls nods in recognition and releases her hand. Walking up a few flights of stairs, Yuuki answers some questions about the uniform that Sarah had asked.

"Well, the Day Class uniforms are all black and the girls have to wear knee-high socks and skirts," she says with a finger on her chin in slight thought. Angelica, Ana, and Sarah all stop, ridged for a moment. No one said anything about knee-high socks and skirts.

"Can't we get pants or something?" Sarah whines in a pathetic voice.

"Nope, school dress code," Yuuki says with a smile and shake of her head.

"The world is trying to make us girly again," the three of them whine together. Yuuki laughs a little at the silly unison whine.

"Are all of you from America?" she asks while they idle on a stairwell.

"Hmmm, give of take. We're just from very separate parts of our country," Ana answers with practiced ease. Yuuki doesn't seem to notice the slightly twisted truth she received as she continues to say, "Well, the rooming situation hasn't been worked out all the way. With the five of you here, there is an uneven number with the rooms in general. But here are the numbers and keys for each."

"Dibs on the lone room!" Angelica says before taking keys packaged in a small rectangular envelop with a room number written on it.

"Fine," Ana says taking a key for her and Sarah. Ignoring the few grumbles of unfair picking, Yuuki hands Rena the last packaged keys.

With brief directions, Yuuki adds that she would like to help them move in. Rena waves off her help by using the fact that we already took up too much of her free weekend. After gently dismissing the young girl, the five trek what they have up to their assigned rooms. As soon as unpacking the basics and hiding what weapons they carried, such as Sarah's small collection of daggers, was done they decided to meet in Angelica's room. Each room was at least a hallway's length from another one. Ana and Sarah's room is on the third floor along with Angelica's, but Rena and Kaitlin's room is on the forth floor.

"Glad that's done with," Ana mutters from her space on the floor in Angelica's room.

"For the moment," Sarah says from the desk chair that is for Angelica's non-existent roommate, "We still have to deal with dinner time at the cafeteria."

Ana glares a little at her at the reminder and Rena interrupts from her seat on a bed by asking, "So, what's the plan for the moment?"

"Stay quiet, stay covered and be careful," Ana says in an automatic tone.

"This place seems to be more promising than most we've been to," Kaitlin says at a length and in a thoughtful voice.

"Let's see how long it'll last," Angelica mutters on her newly made up bed.

"Now, here's a question. Who would either be stupid or influential enough to have so many vampires here at one time, not eating the humans and create a neutral ground between vampires and humans?" Rena pipes in quickly before thoughts became too pessimistic.

"Who said the pureblood has to be smart? Doing something like this is near suicide in the vampire social world and to their secret. Either the pureblood that is doing this is desperate or knows how to really work the system and the art of negotiation," Ana says, leaning on the wall with crossed arms.

"Yeah, that's the whole question: who? Who do we know that would do something like this?" the other blonde presses, leaning on her legs. The eldest girl shrugs.

"There is a good deal of smart and/or desperate vamps out there. To narrow down the 'who' is to ask whose kid it is and if they're a major family," Angelica adds.

"We won't learn anything at the moment if we're to stay secret ourselves. We may find out on Monday since the Night Class has to leave their dorms. We can get a good look at them then. Yuuki was warning us about ragging fan girls and fan boys. We can see this person from a distance and Ana can tell us who the right one in the mess of students is. Until then, let's just take the next day and today to unpack and sleep," Kaitlin suggests and the other girls seem to agree with them.

"On Monday then," Ana says with a tired nod.

TTTTTTTTTTTTT(Monday)TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Everyone is staring at us again," Sarah mutters to Ana as they walk outside towards the classrooms.

"We're American. What do you expect?" she answers.

"For them to not look so creepy and stocker-ish."

"Good luck with that."

"They're making you nervous too."

"I'm just hiding it on the outside."

The girls split to there different classes. Sarah is the youngest, but also one of the smartest in the group. Ana and she have the same class, which means that Sarah jumped a grade. The two girls enter the classroom that is buzzing with conversations. It's still a few minuets before the class will start. The buzz slightly hushes as they walk to the teacher's desk to wait for the teacher. Soon the buzz becomes a hum a slight whispers. Ana's eyes stop on Yuuki for a spilt second, noting her presence as a Level A, pureblood and lands on a sliver haired boy at the top of the class. Briefly she wonders why a Level E is allowed here in the class or allowed to be alive at all around all these defenseless humans. She notes that he seems to have very good control over himself, but is weary.

'Cross better have a good reason to let a Level E in here,' she thinks annoyed.

"I wonder if they know we can understand Japanese," Sarah mummers to Ana in English. Smirking a little to Sarah, the elder girl answers, "Probably not."

"Alright, everyone! Take your seat so class can begin," the teacher says coming through the door and to his desk, "You two must be some of the new students here. Introduce yourselves to the class."

Ana nudges Sarah some. The youngest girl hates to introduce herself to almost anyone, especially large groups of people. She glares at the shorter girl before shakily clearing her throat.

"My name is Sarah Wave and I am American before any of you ask. I love to read, write and swim all the time."

"The name's Ana Rose and I am an American too. I love to write, ride horseback, and to play soccer. That's about it."

"Why do you not have your uniforms?" the teacher asks.

"Well, Mr. —," Ana starts.

"Kaze."

"Mr. Kaze, Headmaster Cross wanted us to inform you that the uniforms will not be ready until Wednesday and apologizes for the delay," she finishes with her hands in her jean pockets.

"Well, Ms. Rose, please come in something a little more appropriate for class tomorrow," Mr. Kaze says with a snipped tone.

Automatically, she looks down at her clothes. A pair of faded blue jeans with ripped knees and the back bottoms of the pant legs torn up a little and a red t-shirt that says, "Bite me, I'll bite you back,' in English. She also has ripped old white tennis shoes. Sarah snickers at the teacher's comment. Her clothes are okay because her jeans are still intact and her shirt is a plain dark blue tee with black heeled boots.

"Sorry, Mr. Kaze," Ana starts and walks towards and empty seat, "Next time I'll try not to look like an American teenager."

The class erupts in small snickers as the two girls take an empty seat in the middle of the elevated desks. Mr. Kaze glares at Ana while she just blankly stares back, unnerving the teacher somewhat. As soon as the teacher beings the class and his back is at the board, writing down important school things, Ana writes a note to Sarah.

_Did you see the silver haired guy at the top?_

_Yeah, I did. What about him?_

_He's a lv. E. Why do you think he's here?_

_Not sure. He doesn't seem hostile. I think he's sleeping right now._

_You're kidding me, right?_

_No, but he's not the only one asleep. I think Yuuki is too. I can feel how calm they are people are when they're sleeping silly, or did you forget?_

Risking a glance behind the teacher's back, Ana quickly twists around to see the two said people are actually asleep. Ana shakes her head in slight disbelief and looks foreword to the back of the teacher. Mr. Kaze is teaching history of Japan and both Sarah and Ana feel like falling asleep. Ana can't blame them for dozing off.

"Mr. Kiryuu and Ms. Cross! You both may be prefects but that does not excuse you from sleeping in my class. Both of you have detention!" Mr. Kaze yells from his desk.

Yuuki snaps up with solemn apologies. The other boy lifts his head a little, glares, then lays his head back down and, no doubt, back to sleep. Ana and Sarah can't hold a few chocked laughs back at the comical scene. Sarah grabs the paper they were writing notes on and scribbles on it before sliding it to Ana.

_Guess they had a long night or something. It may be something to look in to. They're the only ones that are exhausted besides you and the class didn't react the way we did, so this happens a lot._

_Yeah, it might be worth looking in to some. Hey I can't help I'm exhausted all the time. You know I have sleeping problems._

_Just saying girl. In any case, we could try the direct approach and just go ask why Yuuki why she's so tired._

Ana just shrugs at this and lets the class continue. Soon, the class is let out and everyone stretches after the long lecture. The two girls travel up to where Yuuki is now still sleeping. Another girl with brown hair is poking her murmuring her name and saying the class is over.

"Yuuki, wake up," Ana says with a slight commanding voice. She could be scarier. That's how she get's the other girls out of bed when they need to really get some place. Yuuki snaps up a little frightened and surprised.

"Man, you could sleep through a storm," Sarah says with a grin.

"Aw, I fell asleep again," she whines while the other brown haired girl shakes her head.

"I took notes, Yuuki-chan. You can look at them later. But you still have after class detention," the brown haired girl says.

"Thanks, Yori-chan. You're a like saver," Yuuki says with a sheepish smile.

"Why are you tired anyway, Yuuki?" Sarah asks in an innocent voice.

"Ah, well," the questioned girl starts, "The grounds are dangerous at night, so Zero and I have to patrol to make sure students stay inside after dark. Wild animals and stuff."

Sarah notes how fidgety Yuuki is and feels the nervousness rolling off of her is also hinted with fear. Not life threatening fear, but fear of being found out, which means that Yuuki is lying. Sarah does her best to calm her down with her slight ability to change moods and sees Yuuki visibly relax. Ana is looking at the still sleeping boy at the top of the elevated desks.

"That Zero?" she questions without moving her gaze. Twisting around, Yuuki answers yes. Ana just nods.

"We'll be seeing you, Yuuki. We hope you can get some sleep that isn't in a classroom," Sarah says, nudging Ana a bit.

They both walk out of the classroom with thoughtful faces. Ana made sure to grab the note they passed during class. It may be written in English, but that doesn't mean that other people can't read it. It's around lunch time, so the two girls go to meet up with the other three. After grabbing something that the cafeteria is serving, Sarah spots the other three sitting at a table near a window.

"Hey, you two. How's class go?" Angelica greets before biting into an apple.

"Odd," Sarah responds before taking a hesitant bite of her hamburger.

"That's a bit of an understatement," Ana says and grabs Angelica's. She imagines Zero Kiryuu and puts lv. E and prefect under it. "Pass it." Angelica grabs both Rena's and Kaitlin's hands, passing on the same image.

"Really?" Rena says with a surprised tone.

"That's a weird twist. Does Cross know what he's doing or that he has one of these running around here?" Kaitlin asks.

"Cross most likely knows that he's here. He may be weird, but he's not stupid. I think that happy-go-lucky attitude is faked to one point or another," Ana says, taking a bite of her own apple. She ran into Cross on Sunday and was a little scared by how happy and stupid he seemed. Ana and Kaitlin did research on Cross and all of them know that he's an ex-vampire hunter.

"So what do we do?" Angelica asks, leaning foreword on the table.

"We continue as planned and keep an eye on this weird twist," Ana says with a shrug.

"Well, on a normal note, have you guys been getting a lot of stares?" Rena asks, looking nervously around the room at the staring people.

"Duh, we're Americans," Sarah says with a slight uncaring tone.

"It's worse for me," Angelica mutters with crossed arms, "I'm a black American."

"We're just walking, talking American clichés," Ana says with a smile and pats her shoulder. The black girl snorts at the twisted truth her friend said. If anything, they only look cliché.

Lunch ends quickly and the girls go on to their separate classes. Kaitlin and Angelica go off to math class and they see Kiryuu walk into their classroom. Angelica brushes her hand on Kaitlin's, sending a quick question.

'Should we analyze him?'

Kaitlin nods slightly and the two girls take seats in the middle of the desks. They don't want to introduce themselves again. The shorter girl sunk low in her chair to try and hide herself. This won't really work, and Kaitlin knows it. Angelica is too tall and well, black in a room of Japanese kids.

"Afternoon, class. Take your seats," a cheerful woman says from her desk, "We have some new students today. There are five of them, but we only have two with us in this class. Would you ladies please come to the front and introduce yourselves."

"Do we have to," Angelica mutters quietly and flatly.

Both of them get up and walk down from the elevated row of desks. As they walk down, some people can't help but mummer at their American appearance. Some just stare with curiosity. Both girls glare at anyone who'd make eye contact.

"My name is Kaitlin Black."

"I'm Angelica Smith."

"Would you care to tell us about yourselves a little?" the teacher asks in more of a commanding tone.

"Not really. We've done this too many times today," Kaitlin answers with crossed arms.

"O-oh, then take your seats," she answers, a little taken back by Kaitlin's negative and commanding answer. Her tone was far more solid than the teacher's.

Before they do, Kaitlin makes eye contact with Kiryuu. This will help her analyze him if she can have a clear picture from her own memories. While class continues, Kaitlin scans over the silver haired boy in question with her ability. After coming to a steady conclusion, she rips out a clean sheet of notebook paper and begins to scribble a note to Angelica.

_I don't feel anything very particular. He doesn't have any special abilities, unless you want to say that he has an incredibly strong will. He also seems to be very humane for a lv. E._

_This is a bit strange. Maybe I can brush his skin for a second on the way out of class to glimpse at his mind._

_By the way, what's the answer to number five?_

Angelica smirks at this and writes the answer down for her friend. Soon, class is let out and Angelica creates a plan to make contact with Kiryuu. The girls leave right after he does, so that they are temporarily following.

"Oh, jeez! Ana's gonna kill us if we're late! We've only got five minuets to get to her room before her next class! C'mon!" Angelica yells and starts to run.

As she runs past him, she brushes her hand over his and gets four major things from him. First is Yuuki; whether protecting her or not and something about blood tablets. The second is some guy who is the pureblood; he really doesn't like him. The third is Headmaster Cross; he just seems to be there and the last is keeping the students safe by being a Guardian. The girls run to a fake location and stops in the courtyard.

"Huh, I wonder what those things are," Angelica says to herself.

"What do you mean?" Kaitlin asks.

"Seems there are some missing holes in the rumors about this place in the underground world of inhuman creatures. One thing that is interesting is that Kiryuu really hates the pureblood here. I didn't get a name or face, but I know the pureblood is a he," she explains to the shorter girl.

"Hmm, you haven't told me everything, but here isn't the place. Let's go to class," she says walking to where the next class is.

"Er, Kaitlin, wrong way."

"I knew that!" she snaps with a blush. After a second of silence and a smirk from Angelica she says, "Okay, so I don't know my way around here yet. Bite me."

TTTTTTT(after classes)TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Rena stands next to a tree, watching a hoard of screaming girls and some boys in front of the Night Classes dorms. She learned a little while ago that she and the girls live in the Sun Dorms while the vampires live in the Moon Dorms.

'Ironic that the girls and I are put in the Sun Dorms when we have such dark and bloody pasts.'

She extends her ability to the crowd. All the humans have low life meters, or life points. Kiryuu is a little higher than other Level Es and Yuuki's is a little distorted to her. She can only see the length of the human life points on Yuuki, and then it gets blurry so she can't tell how much her life points are.

"See anything good?" Ana asks behind her.

"Not really. Kiryuu's L.P. is a little higher than the norm of Level E's and I can't really see Yuuki's all the way," she says turning around to the elder girl, "How long were you there?"

"Just got here," she answers, coming up to stand next to her.

"That makes the rest of us, too," Sarah says with Angelica and Kaitlin behind her.

"I have something interesting about Kiryuu. It's a list of what is most important to him. First is Yuuki; whether protecting her or not and something about blood tablets. We need to look into this and see what they are. The second is some guy who is the pureblood; he really doesn't like him, to say the very least. The third is Headmaster Cross; he just seems to be there and the last is keeping the students safe by being a Guardian. The questions are: what are blood tablets, why does he hate the pureblood, and what are Guardians?" Angelica rattles off in her report.

"Well, it will keep us a bit busy," Rena says with slight excitement.

"This group of ignorant humans is really annoying," Ana mutters with a disgusted face.

"They don't know who or what they fawn over," Kaitlin says while shaking her head.

A whistle sounds and the five girls can hear Yuuki yelling as the two large doors opens and beautiful people begin to walk out. One blonde is waving and calling out to his fans. One boy caught Ana's radar made her stiffen and then became very angry. She knows him. She met him a few years ago and she really wants to hurt him now. The boy has dark brown hair and she knows that his eyes are a dark mahogany. He looks up at where the five are standing at. Ana and he make contact and keep it for a moment.

"Kaname Kuran," she growls out, her balled up fists shaking, "Level A, Pureblood, age 17, head of Kuran household."

"Specialty: Telepathic attacks, tactics, speed, and physical strength," Kaitlin says with raised eyebrows. Not many vampires have telepathic abilities.

"Life Points well over two hundred and fifty," Rena whispers with slight fear. No creature has over fifty or over a hundred, except for themselves.

"He's straight emotionless. He has slight surprise, but that's it!" Sarah exclaims.

The group of vampires continue to walk and Ana and Kuran break eye contact at the same time; when Yuuki comes up to greet him.

'This is a problem,' Ana thinks, 'This changes a lot. It'll be difficult to stay safe now.'


	2. Chapter 2

Sat. back again! Wow, I got hits from Hong Kong and way over places like that when I'm in America! It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Anyway, I hope the first chapter caught y'all's interest, or you wouldn't be reading this chapter. New questions are raised! Who are these five girls? What is the problem between Kaname and Ana? And what the hell are these girls? Warning stronger language here… I know I didn't warn in my last story but I think I will for this chapter. The lang. will not be as clean from now on. On wards my little readers! I own nothing familiar; if I did Zero would get my lovin'!

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Chapter 2: Mondays

"I can't friggin' believe this," Ana growls as the girls walk to their dorms, "Of course it'd be that whoreson!"

"And now he knows that we're here," Sarah mutters to herself more than the group.

"What do we do now?" Rena asks with uncertainty.

"Try to make the same plan work," Kaitlin says flatly, "So long as Ana can keep her temper with this guy running around here."

Said girl snorts. Ana knows that she can keep her temper when she wanted to. With Kuran, she just didn't _want_ to. The past that the two of them shared, despite how brief it was, left her in a constant ruffled and angry state. Ana can't say the same thing for the pureblood, but she definitely knew how to get under his skin when they were younger. That was always a hard thing for other people to do to Kuran. Ana was just gifted with it and now she wants to see if she still has that gift for Kuran.

"Well, we need to avoid him at all costs," Angelica says to keep the tone of the conversation professional, "he could tell Cross that we're not exactly as we seem, and could try to get us thrown out. If that happens, we need to intervene as soon as possible and… edit our plan a little. "

"I'll do my best to keep his location pinned," Ana says; still upset that it's Kuran keeping all the vamps here, "But I wouldn't put it past him that he's already decided to go to Cross."

The group stops at the third floor and bid each other goodnight, splitting off into their separate directions. By the time each of them is settled in their own rooms, the sun is well set. While Sarah is taking a shower in the shared bathroom, Ana sits on her dark crimson comforter covering bed in her baggy sleep shirt and baggy pants, thinking. Her homework sits abandoned next to her. She's tried for an hour or so to do it, but it isn't working out right now.

Pushing out her radar, she feels the classrooms filled with small groups of vampires. She can't find the one in particular she's looking for, so she spreads her radar a bit further and away from the classrooms. Ana picks up two readings: a low, hidden Level A, pureblood (Yuuki) and another Level A, pureblood. The location is in…Cross' office.

'Oh no,' she slowly thinks.

"Sarah, we've got a problem!" Ana yells through the door.

"What?" Sarah asks sticking her head around the door, her long brown hair and blue streaks dripping from a shower.

"Kuran is in Cross' office and I think Cross is there."

"…Oh shit."

"Get dressed, get Angelica and head for his office. I'll get the others."

With that, Ana bounds out of the room, slamming the door along the way. She winces at the noise. Running full speed down the hall, she skips up the steps by two and takes a left at the top of the staircase. Around the corner, she nearly runs into someone; Zero. Muttering a quick apology in English from habit, she twists around him and bolts down the hallway, leaving a very confused Zero in her wake. She bangs on the door and is immediately let in.

"Ana, what's wrong?" Kaitlin asks, shutting the door with wide eyes.

"It's Kuran," Ana slightly huffs out, "He's in Cross' office."

"…Oh shit!" the two other girls yell.

All three of them bolt down the stairs and head straight for the Headmaster's office. Soon, they catch up with Sarah and Angelica and stop at the hallway of the office. All of them know that Kuran will sense them immediately if they stop in front of the office door and then Cross will too eventually. The choice is simple: either let Kuran tell Cross about them, get thrown out and have attention drawn to those they're running from or risk it and tell Cross what they are and why they're here.

"I hate Mondays," Ana growls.

"Do we barge in or let Kuran open his trap?" Sarah asks more to herself.

"It'd be better if Cross hears our side," Angelica mutters.

Each girl looks at each other for a moment. Then, the four look to Ana. She hates being the leader and making decisions that are for their wellbeing. She has always thought herself to be a crappy leader. Grimacing, she walks down the hall and stops at his office door. She pushes her ear on the door.

"Headmaster Cross, I have one last item of business to discuss tonight. The five new Day Class students… they are not all that they appear." That's Kuran. His voice is matured but still has that cold smoothness that Ana remembers.

"What do you mean by that Mr. Kuran? They're obviously not vampires."

"No, they are not. However, they are not entirely human either. Though, I do not know the reason why they enrolled here. Perhaps you could enlighten us, Ms. Rose."

Taking a large breath to calm her anger, Ana opens the door and slowly walks in, wary of the vampire sitting calmly in his seat with a wineglass of red substance. The others file in and make a defensive circle around the room, surrounding the pureblood. Cross doesn't seem to be very unsettled by the tact, but is still very curious. Next to him are Yuuki and Zero. Ana doesn't remove her glare from Kuran.

He's much taller now, at least a head and a half more than Ana. Even if he is sitting down, she can tell his height by his long legs. He's just as slim as she remembers him, though she know that under that pristine white uniform is a well toned body made for a vampire. His hair is looser and longer, but his expression is still the same: calm, cold, and blank.

"It has been a while, Ms. Rose. I wish I could say it is pleasant to see you again," he says and takes a sip of the liquid.

"Ditto, Kuran," she says with her glare unchanged, "God, I really hate Mondays."

"You have acquired more friends I see. Before, I only knew Ms. Wave," he comments, not removing his stare from her.

"I could say the same for you, what with you keeping all the vampires here in the Night Class. Makes me wonder what your angle is," she says crossing her arms and switching to a less defensive position.

Yuuki gasps at what the short blonde says and Zero stiffens with wide eyes. Cross just raises his eyebrows in surprise, completely serious. Each girl relaxes in some way, but is still on alert. They know that Kuran won't attack while on school grounds. That would be partially breaking the treaty.

Kaitlin realizes that they don't look that intimidating in their pajamas. She has on a white tank top and blue shorts. Angelica has on a plain black shirt and black pants. She matches the most out of the five. Rena has on a shirt with Tigger on it and pink shorts. Ana has on a baggy gray shirt and worn blue sweats that she's had forever. Sarah has on a large button up silk shirt and shorts hidden underneath them that peak out some. Yeah, they were pretty intimidating. It feels more like a slumber party.

"How'd you know that?" Zero demands. His hand lingers near his jacket, as if to pull something out. The girl in question ignores him completely.

"My angle, as you so crudely put it, is pacifism."

"Bullshit," she snips back.

"Why do you not tell them how you came across such prudent information, Ms. Rose? Unless you would prefer me to retell Headmaster Cross what I remember," Kuran suggests with a slight shrug.

Ana bears her teeth at him in quick anger and then looks at each of the girls for approval. Angelica walks over to her and grasps her hand for a second. 'Are you sure?' 'Make them swear to secrecy?' Ana nods her head once and Angelica walks back to her space.

"Headmaster Cross, Yuuki, Kiryuu, we will ask for your trust in the matter. We will not force any of you to swear to secrecy. What we are going to relay to you is almost as important as keep your secret away from the Day Class, if not more," Ana starts and runs her hand through her hair, "What Kuran said is partially true. We aren't completely human." She leans against the wall, completely relaxed and a bit uncaring. "The Hunter's Council found each of us separately when we were little and helped us train and control our abilities.

"When we touch someone for a certain number of seconds, we can draw energy from them. We temporarily fuse their characteristics with our own and can use them. This is not only limited to supernatural beings, but to animals and humans as well. The Hunters called us life-force transits, or as we are called by those who know of us, E-Shifters. Each of us has two very unique abilities.

"We ran from the Hunter's council when I was around ten and Sarah had just turned nine. Once we realized that they wanted us to wipe out not only vampires but all inhuman species, we hightailed it out. That's why we've enrolled here. Right now, it's the safest place to hide."

"What can each of you do?" Cross asks fingers laced on his desk.

"I'm a radar for everything but humans and animals and I can give stats for them," Ana answers, looking out the window.

"I'm an empathic and can control the atmospheric mood to an extent," Sarah says.

"Like you are now?" Kuran asks/states. She nods.

"I can analyze special abilities and slight abnormalities and I have more physical strength when I shift energy, despite what it is I shift," Kaitlin says with a glare a Kuran. She never met him before, but he did hurt Ana when they were kids.

"I'm the most adapted to shifting and have slight telepathic abilities," Angelica says in a stoic voice. She always uses that voice when she means business.

"I know how long it'll take to kill you by your life points and I can shift life-force straight to save others," Rena says particularly to Kuran as a threat and a warning.

"When did you leave the Hunters?" Cross asks.

"Not long after I met Kuran. I was around ten and the other girls were with me a year before that," Ana says, not moving from her position. She doesn't want to reveal too much information.

"How did you meet Kaname?" Yuuki timidly pipes up. Ana's face contorts into a sneer.

"We met in a fight, Yuuki," Kuran answers for Ana; "No doubt she would like to finish that little brawl."

"If that should happen, Kuran," Ana says with deadly stillness, "It will be much more than a brawl. That I guarantee you." They both stare at each other, Kuran a bit more curious, Ana completely confident.

"Headmaster, we promise you that no fight will break out between the vampires and ourselves on school grounds, if you decide to let us stay. We want as little hostility as you do," Sarah says, taking a step foreword with spread arms and opened palms. She's ever the peacemaker in diplomatic interactions like these.

"As long as peace is held here, you may stay. Break that rule once, and you all must leave immediately," Cross says with a stone serious voice.

"Headmaster Cross," Ana says, breaking her eye contact to look at Cross, "may I ask a slightly prying question?"

"Of course, though I may not answer it to the fullest."

She nods towards Zero and asks, "Why do you have a Level E in the Day Class?"

Suddenly the room becomes tense and Sarah loses control over the emotional atmosphere. She mutters a curse in English, but Ana keeps eye contact with the Headmaster, who seems to be frozen. Zero looks horrified that someone knows that he's a Level E and he's only met her once or twice.

"Too prying to answer, I see. Sorry. G'night," she says bowing a little and walking towards the door.

"Kuran," Ana says with her back still turned to him, "Watch your step. If you break the neutral ground, you'll have to answer to me faster than the Hunters or Headmaster Cross."

"Worried about the humans, Ms. Rose?" he asks in a semi-sincere voice mixed with sarcasm that only she could pick up.

"I'm worried about our hiding spot," Ana answers and twists her head to look at him, "And I just want an excuse to beat the _fuck_ outta you."

The girls leave, shutting the door behind them with a quiet click. The four left in the room are still silent for a while. Soon, Kuran rises and bids the trio goodnight.

"Can we trust them?" Yuuki whispers. She thought the girls were nice and not threatening.

"I don't like any of them," Zero growls while taking a seat on the couch next to the window.

"I've never heard of E-Shifters before. I wonder how many there are in the world," Cross mutters, starting at his desk, "I want you two to keep a close eye on them. Now, off to your patrolling."

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"C'mon you two! We're gonna be late!" Kaitlin yells while banging on Ana's and Sarah's door.

"This is cruel and unusual punishment!" Sarah yells on the other side.

"Tell me why I can't hurt Cross again for this?!" Ana yells angrily with Sarah.

"Get your asses out here now!" Angelica yells, "Or I'll break the door down! I'm not suffering alone!"

"Fine!" Ana yells back and opens the door, revealing two flushed girls in the short (and stupid) skirted uniforms.

"I feel so wrong!" Sarah yells, tugging the skirt down as best she can. Even with the socks, there is still a gap of skin showing through.

"This thing's gonna get burnt very soon," Ana mutters darkly.

"Count mine in too," Angelica says with a heated glare.

"Come on you three, it's not that bad," Rena says. She receives with hard glares and she nervously laughs.

The five head off to their own classes. Sarah and Ana don't see Zero in the classroom, but they do see a lot of staring guys. This makes Sarah hide behind Ana somewhat and Ana twitch in frustration. She simply glares at the staring male teenagers and they immediately drop their stares. The two take their seats and Sarah says that Yuuki is a bit nervous around them. Ana just shrugs. It's not like they came here to make friends or anything.

"I need to talk to you two," someone says in front of them.

Ana wondered briefly before he spoke why he was going their direction. They both look up to a pissed of Zero. Ana gets up and puts her hand on Sarah's shoulder, telling her to stay. She didn't want the younger girl to get in trouble for skipping or being late.

"What do you want, Kiryuu?" Ana asks with crossed arms. 'This blazer thing is uncomfortable,' she adds in her head.

"It's something important," he says with his hands jabbed in his pockets.

"I'll answer your questions, then. Sarah doesn't need to come. It'll look suspicious," she says walking around Sarah.

Zero looks at Ana's new appearance for a moment, then turns to walk out of the classroom. Sarah wants to go with her, but she knows that Ana's right. She gives an annoyed huff in her seat. The two exit the room and Ana follows him to a more excluded part of the grounds: the stable. They walk in and she notices a black mare staring at her and scraping the ground a bit.

"Hey, girl. Sucks to be stuck in here, huh?" she asks, rubbing the animal's head.

"Don't touch h—!"

"Please Kiryuu, I've been training to control my abilities since I was four. Have a little faith if you think I'm dangerous," she says, scratching behind the mare's ears a bit, "What do you want?"

"Your radar thing; how does it work?"

Throwing a glance at him she answers, "The same way you can hear someone else in a close room. As for the stats, the information just flows. It's my sixth sense."

"You mean you could pinpoint any creature around you?" he asks coming closer to her.

"It's limited. I can spread it to a half mile radius. I used to only be able to spread it to a few hundred feet. As for pinpointing, that takes some concentration, but it's possible to an extent."

"What's your problem with Kuran?"

"I could ask you the same thing. We have a bad past. I met him when I was eight and he was nine. We got into a fight over something important and it came to a draw. I left the Council two years after that and never saw him again until last night." She turns to him. "Why so curious?"

"I like to know what I'm protecting the Day Class from."

He is startled by her loud and abrupt laughter. She holds her sides a little, whether for show or not, and straightens up.

"You should protect Kuran, not the other humans. I have no qualm with the Day Class."

"Then, you hate vampires?"

"No, just Kuran. I wouldn't care if he was an old dog; I'd still hate him. It's what he did and what he has that I hate him. Do you hate vampires?"

"Yes."

Ana sighs and shakes her head a bit. She walks past him and to a bag of feed. Grasping a handful, she walks back to the black mare and holds her hand out some for the horse. Self-loathing. She knew that at one point too.

"Did you become a vampire willingly?"

"No," he nearly spits out at her.

"I had to ask. I wasn't going to make assumptions," she says wiping her hand on her skirt and looking at him, "Last I checked, hating yourself is bad for your health. Later, Kiryuu."

She walks out leaving him stunned. By the time she gets to the classroom, class is over. She drops her head in frustration for letting Zero take up her class time when she needs to blend in. Sarah comes out and hands Ana her backpack.

"I turned in your homework and told Mr. Kaze that you weren't feeling well this morning," Sarah says with a frown, "What did he want?"

"Answers," she replies, "Thanks for everything."

"No prob. But you might want to go to the room for the rest of the day since you're 'sick'," Sarah suggests, "You know, consistency." The elder girl nods and walks back to her room after handing Sarah her homework that is due for a couple other classes.

Kaitlin walks into the library, looking at all the books lined on the shelves. She's not the only one out of the five girls with a book obsession. All of them did, in fact. Only she and Ana have an obsession with video games. Walking over the fantasy section, she starts to look around for a good leisure book. Finding nothing decent, she walks over to the history section to look a bit more into the school's history. Yuuki did a good job giving information about the school, but she wants an in-depth look. This place seems to be familiar to her from the Council's lectures when she was little. Though, she could be reaching a bit for that memory. She tries to block most of those out.

After checking two promising books out, she heads to a spot in one of the wooded clusters on the grounds. Finding one, she settles on the ground, back on a tree, and props open a book to the first chapter. After a few chapters and making the pages with bits of notebook paper, she hears something. Immediately, the short brunette looks around and decides to slowly pack her books into her backpack. Deciding to play stupid human girl for a while, she ignores the rustling that keeps getting closer.

'I don't like the sound of those things moving,' she thinks, alert and tense, 'I don't even have an animal here to shift from. Squirrels do _not_ count. Last time I did that, I felt like I was on a huge caffeine high.'

"Well, a little Day student has wandered from her classes I see," a smooth male voice says close to her ear.

"I'm not skippin' jerk. Back up before I make you," she responds without looking at the guy.

"You wound me, little Day student! How could you be so cruel?" he says with mock pain.

Turning around, she comes face to face with a vampire with bright blonde hair and bright blue eyes. His skin and white clothes barely have a contrast. His pale, cream lips are turned in a smile that, she thinks, is supposed to make girls fall to his feet.

"Easy, it's just my nature," she says, crossing her arms.

"Yes, Master Kaname did warn us of you and your other little friends," he says, putting a hand on his chin in mock thought.

"Then I suggest you take his warning and go away."

"Oh, but I want to see these non-existence species myself," he says looking her up and down with no shame, "I don't think you seem threatening, besides that glare you're giving me."

"Looks can be deceiving," she says with a viscous grin, "Ice Boy."

"What?" he asks, taken back by her sarcastic nickname.

"I know that your special ability is never-melting ice," she clarifies and her grin widens, "Don't underestimate me, vamp."

Swinging her backpack, she exits the clump of woods, leaving a very confused vampire behind her. Kaitlin quickly walks from the woods, hoping to leave before a fight breaks out. That guy gets under skin a little, a fight will break out and it'll be a _long_ drive to where every the girls will have to run to.

At the end of the day, Kaitlin goes back to the same tree as Monday. The other girls are there, but Ana is in regular clothes. Dropping her stuff in the small pile of the others, she watches the screaming mob of fans in front of the Moon Dorms with Ana.

"We might have an issue," Kaitlin says, "I'm not sure if it is one or not, but it's important. Kuran told his little coven about us. I'm not sure how much, but defiantly that we're dangerous."

"Go figure," Ana mutters, not removing her sight from the crowd.

"Why are we here again?" Sarah whines, tugging her skirt. She wants to get into jeans! It's unfair that Ana gets regular clothes.

"Assessment," Angelica says, pulling out a jacket from her backpack. She tugs off the blazer and pulls on her familiar black jacket she always has.

"Do we really need to be involved? As long as we don't break the peace, there's not much to worry about," Rena says with a shrug.

"It doesn't make sense," Ana mutters, "Kuran _may_ want peace and that may be a legitimate reason as to why he's here, but there has to be something else. Kuran always had a busy agenda when I first met him and I don't think that trait has changed. There has to be more than one reason for being here."

"Different motivations?" Rena suggests.

"At least more than one," she replies as the doors of the dorm gates open, "Let's go."

Each girl grabs their bags and follows Ana down the hill. The group travels near the class entrances; close to the grass that separates the Sun dorms but also father from it. The girls are walking their flank, heading towards the cement pathway adjacent to the building.

"Ms. Rose," Kuran says, stopping in front of the classroom stairs. A few others stop with him; two blonde girls, a shorted purple haired girl, three blonde guys and a really tall red head.

"What?" she asks, keeping her distance. The group of vampires glares at her, except for Kuran, and she pointedly ignores them.

"If you and your friends are not too tied up tonight, I would like to talk to you at the Moon Dorm at eight o'clock," he says, unfazed by his little group trying to literally glare daggers into Ana.

"Why?"

"To work out some… problematic possibilities between us."

"Don't you have class?"

"I have been excused."

Which means that Cross agreed to this meeting before Kuran actually went to talk to his teachers. After skimming her iced vision over the vampires, she nods to Kuran and turns to leave. The others begin to follow, but Kaitlin takes a second longer to glare at Ice Boy, who just smiles back. Once the five are away from the vampires and safely in Angelica's dorm room, Ana haphazardly smacks the wall with the back of her fist. Kaitlin kicks the other unmade bed, then takes a seat.

"I take it you met one of them, Kaitlin?" Angelica asks, eyeing the abused bed.

"The one with blonde hair and bright blue eyes," she replies with crossed arms, "He's an ice user and a real pain in the ass. I met him before I met up with y'all."

"Wow, he's brought a bit of Alabamian out in her," Rena says with a chuckle.

"All of them are Level B, but one is bordering on A," Ana randomly throws in; she seems to be thinking out loud.

"Are we really gonna go to their dorms?" Sarah asks with slightly wide eyes. She is ready for some sort of excitement, but is still worried about having to leave the school.

"That's for everyone to decide. Majority rules, remember?" the eldest girl replies, "All in favor for this little 'peace' meeting say aye." Four "ayes" reached her ears and she smiled grimly at the window she's been looking out at.

"Meet down in the entrance of our dorms at seven-thirty, and be ready for anything," she says with a new grin forming. Oh yes, she really wanted Kuran to step out of place. Once will be more than enough to shred him to pieces.


	3. Chapter 3

Sat. back and with more updates! Hazzah! I don't feel guilty for doing this chapter 'cause I got all my work done for the day… I would still do this even if I didn't but you get the point. In any case, let's see what happens with the lovely meeting tonight. I need some help. Is Aido and Kain the only ones with special abilities or are there others? I really need some help with this. The title kinda explains itself. I own nothing familiar; if I did, Kaname wouldn't be that much of an asshole…maybe. On wards! Happy All Hallows Eve!

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Chapter 3: Weapons and Spars

'Click' 'Crick' 'Sheefe' 'Clack'

Kaitlin continues to check her twin .45 firearms armed with anti-vampire magic bullets. She is happy to be reacquainted with them. She had to stuff them in an old shoebox under everything else in the wardrobe she has in her room. One firearm that is bright silver has a sun etched on it and the other a crescent moon while the body is pitch-black. She calls them her Apollo and Artemis; her little hunters. Tucking the holsters around her thin waist, she tugs a red jacket on and half zips it up.

Rena takes a number of kunai out of a pouch. Each black blade has an etched anti-vampire circle on it. Slipping them in to sheaths around her waist on the inside of her dark blue jeans, she pulls out her sickle and chain from under her bed. She had to hide it in an extra clothes container. The clothes aren't necessary for anything but hiding her weapon. She calls it her Medusa's Tongue.

Checking the sharpness and finding it to be to her liking, she sheaths the blade in the back of her jeans and lets the chain hang in a loop from her pants, the slack loosely in her pocket. Her shirt would cover her pockets well enough for tonight. Kaitlin looks at the alarm clock and it reads 7:23. The two nods to one another and head out the door.

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Sarah whets her blue tented knives with tender care. She has seven of them, all etched specifically for vampire hunting. Gently slipping the last blade into its proper sheath, Sarah slides Thetis' Tears onto the inside waistline of her jeans. Twisting her brown, blue streaked hair into a half assed bun, she slides the seventh sheathed knife into the bun, holding it. The blade becomes invisible in thick trendless of hair. She nods to the elder girl sitting on her bed.

Ana nods as well, slipping her two red tinted daggers, named Aries Eyes', into her jeans. Her scimitars are too large to bring unnoticed. They sit on her bed, sharpened and waiting for the right moment to sheath themselves into a victim's body. Ana named them, so many years ago, Aphrodite's Mirrors. She knows that she may not need them tonight, but still feels uneasy leaving them in her room. She hides them back in her wardrobe and walks out the door with Sarah trailing behind.

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Angelica sits on her bed with no lights on. The blinds let in the clouded moonlight as she looks at her firearm. She remembers so many times before when she put Hermes' Howl to her own head and wanted to pull the trigger. She was five the first time she did that. Her teacher stopped her. The light gold tinted metal dully glitters up at its owner. So many times she wanted to pull Hermes' trigger; to make everything easier for herself; to make her isolation go away… but then she met the other girls. Angelica smoothly slides anti-vampire ammunition into the chamber and pulls it into safety. This is all she will need tonight. She heads out the door.

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The girls meet at the lowest staircase. Kaitlin and Rena arrive first and wait against a wall. Angelica comes next, waiting near the banister. Ana and Sarah descend after a moment's time. Instead of stopping, Ana keeps walking straight towards the door and the other girls flank her. Right now, they aren't students. They are lethal hunters of all things natural and supernatural. At this moment, they've become what they were trained to be: straight hit-men for anything and everything.

The arsenal that was given to them at a young age by the Hunters didn't just consist of vampire weapons, but of all sort. They even have normal bullets for some of those rare occasions. They move as one, all in pace with each other in a "v" formation. If the girls weren't standing up, someone might think them to be a pack of wolves out for a hunt.

In a way, they are.

Ana doesn't break stride when the looming, bright white gates of the Moon dorm are in front of her group. Instead, in a simple motion, she opens the heavy gate with only one hand. There is much that Kuran hasn't learned about the abilities of E-Shifters. Walking across the narrow bridge, the girls ignore the creepy old man in a cloak sitting in the archway between the bridge and the dorms themselves. The group only stops when they reach the stairs.

"Kiryuu is in there. Seems that Cross wants to make sure to keep peace and have an ambassador at the same time," Ana mutters to the group.

"Is Yuuki in there?" Angelica asks. Ana shakes her head.

"The mood is excited and somewhat anxious. A lot of tension is coming from Kiryuu for obvious reasons of being around Kuran," Sarah starts to report, "But, the environment is pretty okay."

"I'll keep my eyes out for imposing gifts," Kaitlin says, not looking away from the building.

Taking a deep breath, Ana starts to move and the girls follow up the stairs with her. Ana knocks briefly and hard. The one who opens the door is the same boy that Kaitlin ran into earlier today. His smile widens some as he looks at all the girls.

"Ana-chan! How nice of you to come!" he says with partial fake mirth.

"Don't be so informal with me," she snips back with an icy tone colder than the ice this guy can make, "You most certainly do not have the right."

His composure flickers to rage for a second but moves aside when Kuran tells him to. The girls enter confidently, but cautiously. Zero is leaning on a wall far from Kuran, who sits on a couch by himself. Around him is the same group of vampires that were with him earlier today, with one exception of an extra redhead. Kaitlin takes her time looking at each and note something about the first redhead; he can create fire. Ana walks in and settles herself on the couch opposite of Kuran, sitting somewhat stiffly. The girls surround her in a semicircle, giving her enough space to dodge anything, but being close enough to help if needed.

"Good evening, Ms. Rose," he greets with his cold silk voice. Ana can't help but notice the pale, tone skin that peers through the white shirt that has two undone buttons, confirming her inferences of him having a body made to fight. That and she's still human to an extent. No one could really blame her for a slight mental slip.

"'Evening, Kuran. What did you want to sort out?" she answers, crossing her arms. Sarah didn't have to tell her that a few of Kuran's group tensed at her insincere voice.

"Just a few things to ensure that peace will be kept on school grounds," he answers, ignoring her tone and his, for lack of a better word, friends.

"You always did like to take matters into your own hands," Ana comments, shaking her head a bit, "Name the issues that you want to prevent."

"The main concern is fights," he says, not even glancing at the menacing girls around Ana, "A great deal can be prevented if your acquaintances do not provoke any of the Night Class students."

"They're my _friends_, Kuran; call them as such," Ana nearly growls, "And don't be hypocritical. We understand that keeping fights from breaking out is important. You should remind a few others that are in the room to do such as well." Both Ana and Kaitlin glance at the blonde Ice Boy, who looks a little taken back. Ana was told of the collision called a conversation that lasted a few sentences between him and Kaitlin. A few other vampires tense and glare harshly at the five.

"I was not implying that only you antagonized us. I know of a few that will antagonize you and they will be dealt with. Aido is of no concern to you," Kuran answers with a still unchanging voice.

"Then, what else?" she asks, pushing the meeting a little faster. Her radar is going crazy. She's never been in an area with so many vampires that have stayed together for so long. So many are moving.

"The issue of hunting other worldly creatures is a concern. If any should show within the future, it would not be wise for any of you to take action," he says while closing his eyes.

He prepared before to hear an onslaught of yells opposing such a demand. Instead, he opens his eyes, mildly surprise to find all of them laughing. They aren't just laughing, but doing it genuinely. Even Zero jumps a little at the odd action.

"_Please_, Kuran!" Ana says as soon as she dies down to chuckles, "Why the hell do you think we left the Hunters? All we're trying to do is dip under their radar and disappear from the files permanently. The only reason we'd kill something inhuman would be due only to the fact that they threaten our wellbeing and/or secret. We don't have mind-wiping abilities like you do, so we always avoid any type of physical confrontation."

"Hunting," Rena snorts out with a laugh.

"There is only one last issue to discuss. I am afraid I need to ask a question for this, but the demand is still the same regardless the answer," Kuran says, drawing the serious back around the situation at hand, "Your blood type—"

"Untested," Ana interrupts, "We left the Hunters before they could try that experiment and I wouldn't allow it to be done to myself or the others. We are not at all curious as to what the reactions would be and plan not to find out any time soon." He nods. Kuran always knew about the plans of the blood testing. It's one of the reasons Ana highly dislikes him. He knows too much for his own good.

"Kaname-sama, what does she mean, 'untested'?" Aido asks in a timid voice. He knows he shouldn't ask out of turn in meetings like these.

"Would you like to answer, Ms. Rose?" She shrugs and looks at Aido.

"We're not normal humans, which means that there are odd things about our blood. The Hunters wanted to give a small sample of our blood to different levels of vampire and a few other creatures that need blood to survive and see what happens. We didn't let them get so far."

Angelica makes an odd sound between a growl and a scoff.

"Don't like the fact of being fed to vampires?" Aido asks her with a sweet, haughty air.

"No," Angelica says with a stone voice and glares at him, "I don't like being a science experiment. Would you, Ice Boy? The little Hunter doctors would have fun with you."

"Enough, Angelica. They don't know anything about that, so just leave them be," Ana cuts her off before Aido replies and Kuran jumps in, "Is that all?"

Sarah rests a sympathetic hand on Angelica's shoulder.

"Yes, thank you for coming out here tonight," Kuran says, rising up from the couch. She rises with him and she really notes the height difference and laughs a bit.

"When we first met, I was taller than you," she comments with a rueful smile.

"I remember," he says with a nod and small smile.

"That's one of the few things we have in common, Kuran, besides our _dislike_ for one another," she says walking towards the door, "We both had a shit childhoods."

"Indeed. Good evening Ms. Rose and company," he says and holds the door open for all of them. Zero trails behind them.

"'Night, Kuran. Let's not have another get-together like this anytime soon," she says with her sincerest voice.

"I certainly hope we will not have to under these circumstances," he says and shuts the door.

The group of girls and now one boy travel back over the bridge and out the gates as calmly as they could. Once on the other side of the closed gates, Sarah let's out a huge sigh in relief and glares a little at the single male.

"Do ya have to be so damn hostile in there?" she asks with her hands on her hips, "You were making my readings weird and ya acted like you were gonna attack them!"

"Hey, at least it didn't turn into a fight," Angelica says, "…That we didn't start."

The silver haired boy just gives her a cold glare and begins to walk away.

"Thanks for coming, Kiryuu. Tell the Headmaster we said hi and to let us know a little a head of time if you're gonna be in on our meetings," Ana says while walking the opposite way of the tall vampire. He makes no response.

"Pleasant, isn't he?" Kaitlin mutters, eyeing him for a moment.

"Well, at least we still have a place to sleep and we didn't even use up some ammo," Rena says, pulling the bright results out of the meeting, "It's harder to get any specific ammo nowadays."

All of them nod in agreement. It nearly costs three live rare vampires to buy one round of anti-vampire bullets nowadays.

"Find anything interesting?" Ana asks Kaitlin as the group beings to walk back to their dorms.

"The really tall redhead with messy hair has fire ability," Kaitlin answers, "and it's pretty damn strong."

"That explains why they were standing next to that really shorthaired girl with the stone face," Rena adds, "They're his major defense."

Silence drifts around them and the empty grounds. Kaitlin is busy thinking about how Aido's (since she knows his name now) and that tall redhead's ability works. Certain questions reel through her brain. Angelica wonders how she will be able to glimpse into Kuran's mind. It's time she started to learn just how this guy works and what better way than to invade the mind for a moment. Angelica drifts different scenarios around to find one that seems most accidental.

Rena is pondering how long it would take to breach Kuran's defenses to reach him. She knows that all the vampires in his reach have a great deal of life points, but distracting might work better. Ana is just wondering how in the hell Kuran got so many vampire families to follow him. Suddenly, a thought hits Sarah.

"Where the hell are we gonna have spares at?!" she hells, throwing her hands up.

Everyone stops, looking at the random brunette frozen with her hands up. Ana blinks owlishly at her while Rena's trying not to laugh. They all have their random moments, but Sarah is best at having them during tense times. Rena wonders if she does this on purpose.

"That…is actually a problem," Angelica says at length, still staring wide-eyed at the youngest group member. They continue to trek back to the dorms.

"We can't do it around campus or in the woods," Kaitlin says, "We'll either run into Day students or Night students or both. We might be accused of planning an attack… we _will_ be accused."

"The only time we could do it on campus is at night; against the rules," Ana points out, jamming her hands into her pockets.

"We need the constant practice, so what do we do? We're tied in all around," Rena says with a whiney voice.

"What about a…fight club?" Sarah suggests, scratching her neck in thought, "It could be for cultural purposes and it'd show Cross that we mean well for the students if we're gonna hold lessons. It's also healthy for the students."

Everyone stares at the girl, making her shrink in her skin.

"Right, bad idea," she mutters.

"Sarah, I friggin' love you," Ana says in a flat voice.

"That's perfect!" Rena says, jumping up and down.

"Hug!" Angelica says, hugging Sarah from behind. The others join in, even Ana.

"So, we'll right up a proposal and give it to him on Friday," Kaitlin says, dislodging herself from the giant hug.

"Right," Ana says, "I'll write it up tomorrow and let y'all look at it."

"Aw, Ana's excited," Rena says, "Her southern accent is coming out!"

"Shut it, Tennessee girl," she growls back.

"So, sleep now, proposal tomorrow," Angelica says with a big grin.

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"What do you think?" Ana asks Sarah in their first class. They still have some time before class.

"Hmm, it looks okay," Sarah says, poring over a typed paper.

_Headmaster Cross,_

_Kaitlin Black, Sarah Wave, Angelica Smith, Ana Rose, and Rena McLaughlin have a request to establish a new club within the school. The club is a spar club that teaches the following:_

_*Culture of different countries _

_*Self-defense for those students that wish for it_

_*Discipline in the mind and body_

_*Respect for others_

_We request that the hours be from four to six, everyday after classes and that there is an isolated area for safety and quiet for proper lessons. We will raise the funds for the equipment if necessary. If you are willing to allow establish of the club, we invite you to view the first three meetings. _

_Warmest regards,_

_Kaitlin Black, Sarah Wave, Angelica Smith, Ana Rose, and Rena McLaughlin_

"Think he'll go for it?" Ana asks, leaning back in her chair.

"Hell if I know," she mutters in response, "That man has more mood swings than a pregnant woman."

"True."

"Alright everyone," Mr. Kaze yells, walking through the door and to his desk, "Take a seat! We're going to be talking about the end of the Feudal Era today and we'll have a test next Wednesday."

The whole class groans, including Sarah and Ana. It's not that they have a problem with the material; they have a problem with this man's tests. All fill in the blanks and including the dates. He'd say calligraphy and that could mean so many things. He likes to choose broad topics and the class only has fifty minuets to fill up the pages.

"If we get this club," Ana mutters while glaring at the rambling teacher, "I'm carrying my scimitars with me all the time just to scare the shit outta him." Sarah nods with a similar glare.

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"Here we go," Rena says.

"The moment of truth," Kaitlin adds, pulling her backpack strap up some.

"Now or never," Angelica says behind Ana.

"…Do I have to be here?" Ana whines with fake tears. The Headmaster creeps her out.

"Open the damn door!" Sarah all but yells at her. Ana knocks on it with a small and fake whimper. She could name at least five things other things she'd rather be doing.

"Come in!" Cross says in a sing-song-y voice.

'Jesus, here we go,' Kaitlin thinks. She didn't want to be here either.

The five enter the warmly decorated office. Headmaster Cross is sitting at his desk with a cup of tea and some paper work. He looks at them with a smile and sets his tea down.

"My lovely American students! How are all of you?" he asks with an extremely cheerful voice.

"Fine," they answer in unison.

"Aw, that's so cute how all of you answer the same thing! And you look precious in the uniforms!"

All of them wince. Great, elite hunters of all beings called precious. Oh yeah, that's so badass.

"Headmaster, we've come here for something important," Ana says and place the sheet of paper on the desk.

"Oh?" he says, picking it up and reading it. As he reads his expression turns serious.

'Arhge! Another one-eighty!' Sarah screams in her head as her sense twists around him. This man truly confuses her.

"What is your true reason behind this…request?" Headmaster Cross asks with no cheer in his voice. He laces his fingers in front of him.

"We all mean every word on that paper, but the other underlying reason is practice," Ana begins to explain, "I can't guarantee having your neutral ground established here will protect not only you and your… students, but us as well. You aught to know just how persistent the Hunters can be. We need to be at our best no matter what. This way, not only can we protect ourselves, but your students as well. Including the… Night Class, if it comes to such." The girls had decided this before coming to the office.

Headmaster Cross leans foreword in thought. He keeps his vision on the typed paper. After some still seconds, he gets up and walks around his desk. He stops at Ana, staring down at her with a severe serious face.

"You and your group would help the school?"

"If the time calls for it, yes."

"Then," he says, and suddenly picks Ana up in a hug, "Of course you can, my sweet Ana! How could I say no to someone that cares so much for others?!"

"_Get off!_" she yells, punching him in the gut.

"Such abuse," he mutters, sliding to the floor.

"Ana!" Sarah yells at her, helping the Headmaster into his seat.

"It's alright," he whizzes, "My dear son does it too. Though, not a violently. I apologize Ana, I shouldn't have done that."

"Its fine," she mutters running her hand through her hair, "I shouldn't have hit so hard."

"Headmaster," Sarah says in a concerned voice and helping him up, "Are you sure you don't want to think about the club?"

"Positive," he says, catching his wind, "I know just how important training is when dealing with something like this. I trust the intentions are good and that none of you like to go back on your word." Now Ana feels a little guilty about socking him in the gut.

"Besides," he adds with his big, goofy smile, "All of you are so cute trying to protect the school!" And now Ana doesn't feel one bit guilty.

After having a short conversation about random things, and profusely refusing the positions as prefect, the tired girls finally leave. Being a prefect was not something any of them wanted to worry about. Besides, they just arrived at the school a short while ago. Becoming prefects would cause major suspicion. Cross gave them a room number that the lessons can be held in. He told the five that it should be around the gymnasium in the back.

The girls arrive at the gym and begin to walk around it. A small, dark building lingers a little unnoticed in an outer edge of a wood cluster. Above the door is the number 2112, the same one on the sheet of paper that Angelica holds. The girls split up around the building to inspect it. Ana walks around the sides and sees large windows that are covered in thick dirt and dust. They are on both sides of the building. Sarah walks to the door and rattles the handle. It's rusted shut.

Gathering some energy and concentrating it, Kaitlin jumps on top of the roof to check for damage. She luckily finds none. Rena walks around the wood cluster edge, examining the thickness and wonders what can hide in there. Angelica joins Sarah with inspecting the doorknob. They both shake their heads and Sarah backs up some. With a practiced kick, Angelica breaks the lock part of the door. The knob is just going to have to be replaced. Entering the dusty building, Sarah flips a light switch. Ceiling lights hum to dull life, and a wooden floor of a discolored figure brightens up some.

There are two doors in the back that have signs above them indicating which is for men and women. Walking in, Ana goes to inspect something next to the changing rooms. It seems that there is a large office for the teacher of this place. Rena and Kaitlin go into the men's changing room and see it to be in a petrified state. Some lockers are opened, some random washcloth is handing out of a locker, a shoe is next to the shower room, and the place is covered in dust.

Sarah and Angelica enter the women's changing room to find it in a similar state. One major difference they found was a rusty pink razor and a sandal that might have been white at one point. The girls meet back into the main room, looking around the large and empty space.

"Wow, Cross really let this place go," Angelica says as her voice echoes off the walls.

"It is gonna be a fixer upper," Ana mutters still looking around the dusted room.

"At least there is electricity," Sarah says, glancing at the gray covered lights. "Wonder if we'll be lucky enough for running water," Angelica mutters.

"Hey, we got a place that no one really knows about!" Rena says with a large grin, "Before we start to advertise, this place could be our little getaway for a while."

"I know what we'll be doing this weekend!" Kaitlin exclaims with a grin to match Rena.

"Besides homework?" Sarah asks with a quirked brow.

"_Cleaning_," Kaitlin responds in a fake spooky voice.

"…You're crazy. I hope you know that," Ana says with a straight face.

"Yeah, but you're still with me," the shortest girl replies, "In fact, we're all still with each other."

"…I like to think I'm saner than all of you," the eldest girl says with a smile.


	4. Chapter 4

Sat. back and filled with tiredness and candy. Forgive me for being late, but geez! Work is a bitch! In return, very long chapter! 24 pages and a few lines! I think I may redo the summary for this story because I haven't been getting a lot of hits for it… it makes me sad! Soon, funny spars will ensue and we can all laugh! Just a heads up if you didn't already know this: Aido can't keep out of others people's business if his undead life depended on it…which is true most of the time… I love it. I changed a little something in the chapters now. I thought about this before and I've seen it used in a few novels, so I'm going to do it. I just have too many characters. Note: I have no problems with which people choose to date, despite gender. Song recommendation: I Hate Everything About You, by Three Days Grace. Well, here's the next chapter! Onwards and upwards space monkeys! I own nothing familiar.

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Chapter 4: Ice and Fire Do _Not_ Mix!

Kaitlin

I. Am. So. Tired.

I know I shouldn't be, but I am. It's Friday and this whole week the girls and I have been fixing up our Fight Hall. That's what we named it… well, Sarah named it. She started this whole idea, so it's only right that she named it. Right now, Rena and I are trying working on the windows. Note word trying. This stuff is so junked on its disturbing. The reason that only Rena and I are working in here, and the other girls aren't is because Cross wanted to talk to all of us about maintaining the Hall. Rena and I ran out of the office before anyone could say no. Score!

"Hey, can you hand me that wet rag?" she asks.

I pick up a stained soggy rag, dip it in a bucket and wring it before tossing it to her on the other side of the room. Her window is almost clean, but that means that both of us are covered in dark stuff that we seriously hope is dust.

…Yeah, I know it's not, but I can still hope. At least I can get my hair out of my face and away from the creepy black sticky stuff. I can just get into a stubby and curly looking ponytail. Turning back to my window, I raise my bare arms to scrub it again. I'm wearing a black tank top and some ratty jeans that I've had since I was fourteen. How the hell can I still fit in these?! Oh wait, I forgot. I'm a stick. My throat lets out a rough sigh as I scrub harder. Damn sticky stuff!

Someone knocks on the door. Who in the hell is that?

Rena stops and looks at me with the same face I've got. No one knows that we're here, so who is it? It wouldn't be Cross; he'd just come right in. My forearm rubs my itchy cheek out of reflex. I look down at my arm and see that it's already smeared in black stuff…great. Walking to the door, I wipe my hands roughly on my pant legs. I open the door to see… Aido?! Great, just frickin' perfect. I get out of hearing Cross being creepy and cheerful to this guy. Thanks Karma, I love you too.

"What do you want Ice Boy?" I ask, leaning on the door jamb. He keeps smiling that annoying smile. He's not in his school uniform. Instead he's in a light blue dress shirt and black slacks.

"I just wanted to pay you ladies a visit," he starts to say and leans over me a little to see inside, "Though; I only see it's the two of you. May I ask what the two of you are doing?"

"No, you may not," I say and try to slam the door in his face. He easily stops the door and pushes it gently. If I push back, that would be considered starting a fight…damn.

"Aw, can't you be at least a little friendly?" he asks with that sickly sweet smile.

"Let him in, Kaitlin," Rena says behind me, "We might as well. He won't leave us alone if we don't."

I shoot her a look that says are-you-crazy?! My own friend has betrayed me! Glaring back at the tall blonde boy, I stiffly move aside to let him pass over the threshold. I slam the door shut after he's in and walk back to the window I was scrubbing. So much for this place being a sanctuary from _all_ of the students.

"Why are you cleaning this place?" he asks with a disgusted face.

"None of your business," I snip back. Okay, that came out more like a snarl, but I really don't like this guy. Where does he come off?

"We're starting a self-defense club," Rena informs him.

"Rena!" I yell at her, "We don't even know if Ana wants us to tell the Night Class yet!"

"Better to get out in the open than to hide it, Kait," she says, not even looking from her nearly cleaned window. She has a point. I scrub my window harder.

"Come on, Kaitlin-chan," he purrs very close behind me, "You can trust me."

That's it. I turn on him, sticking my black cover finger in his face and resisting the urge to smear the black gunk all over his shirt.

"One: don't be so damn informal. We are _not_ friends. Two: get that close to me again and I'll drain you fucking dry before you even realize it."

"I thought that was supposed to be my line," he says while his smile becomes wider.

"Surprise," I mutter, turning to my window again, "You're not the only thing out in the world that can literally drain the life out of things."

"No, I would just like a taste," he says in a near whisper. I'm pretty sure that Rena heard that since she stopped washing her window. Turning to face him with a smug smirk, I thrust my blackened wrist out.

"Go ahead, see what happens," I snap at him, "The Hunters thought that vampires would have their internal organs explode and burn from our blood."

He looks a little shocked at this and backs off a step or two. Idiot. Didn't he listen when Ana told him that our blood isn't normal? We shift energy, so naturally our own energy runs in our blood as well. We're a major chemical plant on legs. Rena snorts a laugh at his reaction and I wet my rag in the bucket next to me. We found out Monday that we have running water, it just doesn't turn hot. I'm gonna have to empty this out soon.

"You have smears on your face," he randomly comments.

"Yeah, I know, but that's what happens when you work around dust…or at least I hope it's just dust," I respond, looking through the semi-opaque glass. We've only got three more to do after this.

"When are you ladies going to start this… self-defense club?" he asks, more towards Rena.

"As soon as we get it fixed and cleaned up," she says to him and walks across the room to my bucket, "We don't really have a specific date, but we need to clean everything first and maintenance last."

"Makes me a little frightened to think what this place looks like before you ladies got a hold of it," he says with a fake shudder.

"Try a dust graveyard," I say and pick up the bucket to dump it out. I open the door and pick up the bucket again, doing my best not to slosh it on my jeans. That would suck a lot. I dump it around the wood's edge, making sure to get the sediments. As soon as I turn around, I nearly run into Aido's chest.

"Holy hell, dude!" I yell, grabbing the cloth around my heart, "Don't do that! Jesus H. Christ on a popsicle stick!"

"I thought you were supposed to be this big bad huntress?" he asks with a wide smirk.

"Yeah, but I'm not the radar in the group!" I yell back at him, "I've tuned my sense down so not to draw attention to myself or the girls. It's called acting normal. Try it some time."

"If I was to act my normal self," he says inching closer to me with a thick voice, "I would have drained you slowly."

"Be my guest and see what happens," I growl back, "But just remember that I _am_ a big bad huntress that can kick your ass if you don't control yourself. That will be called _self-defense_. Go away. You have class in a couple of hours and we wouldn't want Kuran to worry about you, would we?"

"Right," he says with an unwavering voice, "Good luck with your dust graveyard."

He walks off into the woods and as soon as he's not visible anymore, I walk back into the Hall. Why the hell is he so annoying?! Going into the women's changing room, I fill up the bucket with fresh water and go back to my nearly clean window. Dipping my rag in it, I press it to the window with a squishy sound coming from the cloth. Someone would figure that you don't mess with girls from Alabama, but no this guy is stupid enough to. It seems that most guys here don't have common sense. Rena leans on the wall next to the window I finally scrub clean. She has a smirk on her face and that I-know-something-you-don't-know look.

"What?" I ask laying the rag on the rim of the bucket.

"You like him," she says with an uncontrollable grin. I give her a what-the-fuck look and snort a crude chuckle.

"Pul-eaze," I say in English with full Alabamian accent, "he's just so damn annoying."

"You so totally like him," she says letting some of her Tennessee accent drift into her English.

"Don't be absurd. How in God's good name could anything like _him_? You tell me how and I might consider you only a little insane."

"I've known you for years, Kait. No guy has ever gotten under your skin like that before and he does it so easily. Besides, if you're bein' mean to him, that means you like him."

"He's a playboy from hell, Rena," I say with a flat voice, "And he only does that to drain girls, remember? Besides, I'm not very nice to anyone I don't know and don't like."

" Whatever ya say, Kait," she says walking to the second to last dirty window near the entrance.

She's finally lost her mind. I really thought she had when we were younger and she killed something with blood for the first time, but now it's official. By the time we get all of the windows crystal clear, the others finally come back from Cross' office. Sarah and Angelica look very tired, more than before we left. Ana just looks annoyed and, well, mad. Something must have happened.

"What's up, girls?" Rena asks as they drop their bags against a wall, "By the way, Aido came by here a little bit ago and knows about the fight club."

"Go figure," Angelica mummers tiredly.

"Nice job on the windows," Sarah comments, looking at the drooping sunlight peering through, "They look great."

"Thanks," I say, "But what happened with Cross?"

"Well, when you two decided to run out on us," Angelica says with a glare and I grin back, "We were told some finite things about the club and we had to make a… compromise. If we agreed to this, which we did, Cross would pay for all of the maintenance problems, including the water."

"So, what's the problem?" Rena asks, tilting her head a little, "All of you look kinda pissed… well, Ana does."

"We have to extend an invitation to the Night Class and open the club for them as well. Classes don't start until seven for them, so it works out," Ana spits out with crossed arms.

"You're kiddin' right Ana?" I shakily ask.

"I wish," she growls back at the floor she's glaring at.

Oh. Hell. No. This is bad. This is beyond bad: it's unfair!

"We said that we'd help all of the students if it was _necessary_!" I yell, "If a fight breaks out between us, they'll have an advantage seeing us go through basic fight sequences! This could compromise the deal we already have with Cross! What the hell is that man thinking?!"

Sarah and Ana raise their eyebrows at me and Angelica stares as if I just grew a tail and ears of a rat and danced around in a tutu.

"What?" I ask. They should be this mad too.

"She's in denial about liking Aido," Rena pipes in behind me.

"What?!" both Sarah and I yell. Angelica laughs while Ana just smiles and shakes her head.

"Really, Kaitlin?" Sarah asks, grabbing my arm, "_You_ like a _guy_?"

"Are you insinuating that I don't like guys?" I ask with an icy voice.

"N-no, but you liking almost anyone for any reason is epic," she says, wisely backing off and walking next to Ana.

"Don't be stupid," I growl back at her, "Of course I don't like him! He just gets on my nerves."

"Enough to try and slam the door in his face," Rena, my every traitor friend, mutters behind me.

"It's not like we have a problem with it Kait," Ana says, getting my attention, "The main focus is Kuran and we all know why. Aido's fine if he learns to keep his informality and space issues at bay to some point."

"Are you saying," I choke out with wide eyes, "That you are giving me an okay to…to… be _involved with him_?!" I couldn't say date out loud! That'd be too weird.

She shrugs and mutters, "Why not?"

Whoa, wait a minute! Did Ana Rose, _The_ Ana Rose, just tell me to go date with a vampire or just on a date in general?! What the hell happened to her?! Angelica snickers at my face that is probably priceless, but Sarah must have the same face. I can't tell because she's looking at Ana, too. Wow, what has this school done to her?

"It _is_ high school, guys," Ana growls at us, "Last time I checked, dating in school is a normal thing high schoolers do, despite what goes to this school. Besides, better to go out with something that knows what you are."

"You're friggin' nuts, Ana," I say, shaking my head, "I'm calling it night. I need to see if I can get this stuff of my face and arms." I'm giving up trying to talk some sense in to them.

"M'kay, well finish up the cleaning jobs," Ana says, getting out of her leaning position on the wall.

"I'll see you up in the room, Kaitlin," Rena says, walking away with Angelica to the changing rooms.

I walk out the door into the warm spring air. Thank God the cleaning is almost done. I don't think I could take another day of cleaning gunk. By the time I get near the dorms, I hear fan girls' screams below me. I'm at the same tree that the girls and I first came to. What a bunch of idiots, idolizing creatures that could kill all of them within five minutes. Ignorant people make the world turn 'round, I guess.

Screams of each of their stupid nicknames muffle together. Shaking my head, I begin to walk away until ice blue eyes snag my dark brown ones. Aido. Why the hell is he looking over here? He waves; I flip him off and walk away.

Once I reach my room, I snatch up my pajamas and a towel. Definitely time to scrub all of this crud off. Twisting on the sink tap first, I scrape the stuff off of my hands. After drying them off, I pick up a brush, let my hair down and run the brush through my naturally thick and curly hair. Gah curls! They're so puff now! I walk over to the tub and tug the red curtain over the rod. I twist the water on as hot as it can go, letting fresh steam slowly rise above the curtain. Shedding my clothes, I happily hop in the tub and being to scrub the crap out of my dirty skin with a clean bar of soap. Thank God for soap!

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"You think this'll be good?" Angelica asks, looking over the thick white sheet of construction paper.

"It looks pretty good," Sarah says, leaning over her shoulder, "You know, straight to the point and simple."

Its lunch right now, the only time during the day all of us are together, looking over the flyer that I drew up last night. After about four ideas, I finally settled on one. The title is "self-defense club" in bold at the top and information on where, when, and who is teaching it. On the bottom is a person in a fighting stance. Simple, but it'll do. Plus, I was really tired last night.

"Okay, now we just need to see if this thing will copy well," Rena says, taking a chomp out of her sandwich.

"I'll do that today," Sarah says taking the flyer and stowing it in her backpack, "I need to go to the library for a good book anyhow."

"Well, lets get this thing up and running," I say, pushing my empty tray towards the middle of the table, "We don't know what kind of response we'll get, so we need to break this up into schedules."

"What," Ana asks, putting down her finished apple, "like we each take a day to teach the class or something?"

"Maybe," I say ruffling my hair a little, "It'll depend on the day and homework loads we got and stuff like that. I know that some days not all of us will be there. If the group of people is small, then we all could rotate teaching and just do private practice ourselves after hours."

"I see," Ana says with a nod "and if the group is too big, we'll all teach it together, right?"

"That's the idea I had in mind," I say, picking up my tray, "I'll see y'all later. I've got to go to my language class*"

They all say a chorus of goodbyes.

"Oh, Kaitlin," Ana says in English.

"Yeah?" I ask, turning to look at her from the doors of the cafeteria.

"You and Angelica are delivering four of the flyers to the Night Class after classes. Yuuki will take you to them before they go to class," she says, gathering up her used dishes.

"What?! Why do I have to go?!" I yell back at her in English, making a few people look at us. I don't think they know English very well. I hope.

"Because, Sarah, Rena and I have no time," she snaps back, "We have to deal with _Cross_."

I wince. Neither sounds very good. Let's weigh the options: on one hand I have to deal with Mr. One-Eighty that likes to give hugs and acts like a school girl most of the time. On the other hand, I have to deal with a large group of hostile vampires and _Aido_. Shit, the only good from going to the vampires is that it'll be quick and there won't be any physical contact like random-ass hugs… damnit, she knows I'd choose to go to the vampires.

"Whatever, just let me run to my room before we go," I say with a sneer and walk to class.

Class goes by relatively fast. This class always kind of put me to sleep so I do the only thing that would keep me awake: I write and draw random things. This has been going on for a while and I haven't been caught yet. Plus, with the good grades that I have so far, it gives the teacher no room to complain. The rest of the day goes without much of a hitch. In my last class, this is math, my nerves feel frazzled. No, not with the worry or anticipation of going into the coven hold of the vampires.

My nerves are getting charred by these two giggling idiot girls behind me. And what are they giggling about? The Night Class, what the hell else? I feel like taking Artemis out and popping a few rounds into their heads, they're so damn annoying. Two problems: I'd get us kicked out and I don't have Artemis with me. I hate fan girls with a passion. I'm not the only one in my group that does. All the girls hate fan girls and to have two squealing ones behind you talking about what kind of boxers "Wild-sempei" wears for an hour can really annoy you.

Would Ana hate me if I shot just these two? Maybe not hate, but she'll be really pissed off. As soon as class is out, bolt for the door and head to my room. Once in my room, I put Artemis and Apollo inside my jacket pockets of the blazer. At least I can hide these in here easily. The blazer is so creased and stiff that it can hide a lot of things well.

"I think Sarah will take the fourth and third floor," Rena says to Angelica while walking through the door, "Oh, hey Kaitlin. Here, take these and go before the evil fan girls attack." She hands me four well copied flyers. They almost look like the original.

"C'mon, Kait. Let's go get this over with," Angelica says with a happy tone. She must be happy at the fact that Aido might be there and I might kill him.

We walk down the stairs and outside towards the Moon dorms. There is already a crowd waiting outside the gates. Geez and this is the small one! I swear nearly every girl is here. Okay, maybe not, but still. We stroll down the cleared path straight to Yuuki and Kiryuu who are doing there best to hold the crazy hormonal girls back. Well, Yuuki is trying; Kiryuu is just glaring at the scared girls. Isn't his name… err, Zero? Strange name, but oh well.

"Hey Yuuki," I greet, watching her try to push the girls into line, "Having fun."

"Lots," she mutters.

"What some help?" Angelica asks with a sympathetic grin.

"No, no! I got it!" she says with a weak smile. That's it. Now I've got an excuse to yell at them. I grin evilly. Yay, stress reliever!

"Listen up you bunch of hormonal psychos!" I yell, "Either back the hell up like you're told or you're gonna face some painful consequences!" Silence rings in everyone's ears.

"And just who are you to tell us what to do?!" one short brunette courageously yells back, "You're not even a prefect!"

"Exactly," I growl back with a wide grin, "They aren't allowed to touch you without major consequences. I, on the other hand, can and will not hold back to beat the living fuck outta you if all of you don't shut the hell up and fail to do as you're told. I don't _care_ if I get in trouble."

Shocked silence lingers on them. Many are starting with wide eyes and gaping mouths. Apparently, they've never met an American with an attitude. I grin even wider.

"I've been wanting to beat up some fan girls 'cause you're so damn annoying. Go ahead, give me a reason."

All of them shake their heads no and wisely back up. Angelica shakes her head at me with a small smirk. Yuuki is still processing what I've just said and even Kiryuu looks a little surprised.

"Shall we, Yuuki?" Angelica says; bring the shorter girl out of her trance.

"Oh! Um, sure," she says while glancing worriedly at me. I send her an apologetic smile. Once we walk through the gates and they quickly shut, I sigh deeply. I don't wanna do this!

"Sorry for that back there, Yuuki," I say, tapping my cheek a little, "I had a bad last period with two fan girls so my patience is a little shot. I'm sorry if I worried you or anything."

"It's okay," she says looking over her shoulder to look at me with a smile, "I was just hoping that you'd not start a fight and get kicked out."

I shrug with a small grin. We walk up the small porch steps to the tall wooden doors. Yuuki knocks on the door and moves to the side. Here we go. A boy taller than Angelica with blonde hair and green eyes answers it, looking a little curious. Guess they didn't get a heads up of any kind. I figured either Cross or Ice Boy'd tell them.

"Here," I say with a deadpan voice, "If any of the Night Class students are interested. Ice Boy should know what it's about." He takes them and reads the top flyer quickly.

"This is pretty clever," he says with a smile. This guy sound sincere.

"It happens once in a while," I say.

"Well, I'm Takuma, Ichijo. I don't believe we were able to really introduce ourselves the last time we met," he says with a sheepish grin.

"Kaitlin Black," I respond.

"Angelica Smith," my tall friend says with her usual monotone voice. So she sees this as a business transaction. Yay, I'm no the only one!

"I'll make sure the flyers get distributed," he says with a bright smile.

"'Kay. See you around then," I say and turn around walking down the stairs. Angelica nods her head towards Takuma and follows.

"Thank you, Ichijo-sempei," I hear Yuuki say with her sweet voice.

Is she really a pureblood? She's so sweet. She might not know that she's a vampire at all. Man that would be an odd conversation. At least that didn't take long and Aido didn't come out either! Yay for me! Once we get half way to the gates, I get a strange feeling over me. My senses jump up, warning me that something is about to happen. It's not time for the gates to open yet, so what is it?

Suddenly, two thick and cold arms encircle my waist. My hand reflexively pulls Artemis out and puts it to the temple of who is holding me. I unclick the safety and pull the hammer back. At least I put anti-vamp bullets in. Angelica stands tense, with her hand in her jacket pocket, ready to pull Hermes' Howl out and Yuuki stands unsure but ready for action with her hand on her leg. She must have a weapon there.

"Let me go before I pop a round in your head," I say with my voice licked in ice.

"Aw, you wouldn't want to hurt me with this beautiful gun, would you Kaitlin-chan?" Aido asks, leaning on my shoulder. In response I pull out Apollo as well and release the safety. I feel his body stiffen with surprise at my second weapon.

"Yeah, I would. Give me a reason."

"Aido-sempei," Yuuki asks with a slightly timid voice, "You need to let go of Black-san and get ready for class."

"You wouldn't want Kuran out here," Angelica flatly reminds him. The tall blonde easily slides his hands off my waist and I stiffen to not fire off Artemis and Apollo.

"Yes," he says smoothly, "See you around Kaitlin-chan." I click Apollo's hammer back, still aimed at his head.

"Don't call me that," I hiss before he walks back to the dorms.

LLLLLLLLLLLLL(Monday)LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

We've been checking the sign-up roster that we left around the school all weekend. We got a lot of hits on it, more than twenty I think. That means we have to teach the class together. There are just too many people for one teacher, besides the fact that some of these people could range from beginners to advance. Math class is going slow, and I think the teacher is making time slow down. I want to get the club started! That and I need steam to kill off. I have good reasons.

Somehow word got out that some Night Class members might be going to the first meeting, which means fan girls and boys galore at the first meeting. I haven't had the courage to check the roster sheets again. We're to collect them after classes are let out. Maybe I can beat up fan girls without getting into too much trouble. Cross is coming to the meeting, but only for the first twenty minutes. Kiryuu is going to be staying for the rest of the time.

Finally, math is let out and Angelica and I split to get the few flyers around here. I collect three sign-up sheets and there are fifteen all together on here. Man that means that there are more than twenty. Cross said that the capacity of the Fight Hall is about forty people. The good thing is, is that the girls and I get the office space to store our stuff.

Once we collect all the rosters, change and gather our stuff, we head to the Hall and I put my hair up along the way. Rena counts up how many people we have in total as we walk around the gym. This is gonna be fun! After unlocking the front door, we all head to our little back office and drop our few things. I go out and begin to stretch my muscles. We have about forty-five minutes until the meeting starts, so Ana and I are going to spare a bit. One of the girls' starts up the boom box with brought with us, playing a long CD of twenty-five songs on random and repeat.

"And the grand total of people is thirty-five! Twenty girls and fifteen boys," Rena says walking towards me with the rosters and her golden hair in a low ponytail. She places them on the windowsill and starts to stretch too. The others take after her example.

"So, how many do you think are Night Class fan members?" Angelica asks with a joking tone.

"Are you kidding?" Ana says with a flat voice with her hair in a high ponytail, "I say there are only five or ten who are coming for the class."

"How did that information get out anyway?" Sarah asks with her loosely braided hair.

"Takuma told Kuran while walking to class Friday and those devoted girls overheard them," Angelica informs us, cracking her back some.

"How'd they hear anything over the screaming?" Rena asks.

"They're stalkers, remember?" I comment, cracking my neck. They all nod in agreement.

"Alright, Kaitlin," Ana says walking in the middle of the room and taking her normal open hand stance, "C'mon." I grin at her and jump to a sprint.

Launching myself up a little, I send a roundhouse kick to her head, which she blocks and pushes me off. I'm still amazed that she can push me off without shifting her energy. She's shorter than me and only twenty pounds heavier! She steps foreword and jabs stiff fingers to my stomach, which I block and give a left hook. She twists under my arced arm and tries to stab my ribs. I kick my right leg straight up and try to catch her chin. She counters with her left leg and swings her right one towards my head.

I catch that and keep moving it. I throw her, but she catches herself on the floor in a series of quick back flips. Rushing foreword, I time it so my right uppercut will hit her just as she recovers. Now! Suddenly, my wrist is caught and my whole arm is twisted behind my back while finger tips lie on my throat, right at a main pressure point. Shit, I lost.

"Whoa," some guy breaths out. I look up at the door where students have congregated to. Oh, we had an audience. By the looks of it, there seems to be about thirty people here. What time is it? Ana releases me and I rotate my arm to get proper feeling back.

"Looks like class will start soon," Ana mummers to me, a little uncomfortable under all the stares of the students, "It's five till four."

"Really?" I ask while walking over to the other girls with Ana. I didn't think that much time had passed.

"We didn't have the heart to break it up," Sarah says with a grin.

"And we wanted to see the other students' reactions," Angelica says with a small cynical smile.

"We have three Night Class students," Rena informs, nodding her head towards the group.

"Yeah, they're in the back and are all Level Bs," Ana says, wiping her forehead off, "I think we distracted the girls from th—"

Suddenly girls begin to scream three names. Or I should say one name and two other nicknames. Great. Aido is here, so is "Wild-sempei", who ever the hell that is, and Takuma. Alright, how do you calm a giant mob of fan girls down? Well, not giant, but just as annoying.

"Settle down, students!" a cherry voice sounds somehow behind the group. The students part and Cross and Kiryuu walk through along with the three vampires.

"Good evening, Headmaster and Kiryuu," Ana greets, walking to meet them, "Thanks for coming and letting us do this. It really means a lot to the girls and me."

"Not a problem at all Ana-chan!" Headmaster responds with his overly cherry voice. I see Ana wince at the chan part.

"Please take the seat over next to the office," she says pointing to the chair that was brought out during our spar, "We wouldn't want you to have a student fall on you."

"Yes," he says with a bright smile, "Thank you." Both men walk over to the designated area as Ana tells the group where they are to change and that they have five minuets.

"You weren't too bad, Kaitlin-chan" Aido whispers to me as he walks past me. I try to trip him, but he catches himself with usually vampire grace. Damn.

With all of the students changed and out, we do a quick role of people. Thirty-eight people. That's a lot. Ana begins to go over the rules: don't be late, keep socializing to a minimum, respect everyone, follow instructions, and keep socks on while fighting on the mats. She asks if there are people with major past injuries and surprisingly, there isn't. Rare, huh? We divide the students into a few categories: beginner (0 years of experience), intermediate (1-2 years), advance (3-4 years), and spars and new techniques (5 or more years).

Ana and Angelica took up the beginners since there were twenty students. Those two have more patience with newbie people. I got intermediate, Rena got a group of eight advance students and Sarah got left with spars. Oh those boys are in for a surprise. There are only three in that group, and though Sarah may act sort of ditzy, she can kick some serious ass.

I look at my group of seven people in the middle of the room. After we put down the mats and distributing boxing gloves, we broke the room up. I restrain a growl. Aido decided to put himself in my group. Stupid snowflake. The other guy, I was told by Rena that his name is Kain, and Takuma are in advance. I wonder why Kain didn't tell Rena his last name. Oh well. At least there are three guys in this group, even if it includes Snowflake.

"Alright, listen up," I say, snapping their attention to me, "This maybe intermediate, but that doesn't mean we'll move slowly. Before the meeting starts tomorrow, you are all to be dressed and stretched and here at this spot before we start. Our goal is learning as much as we can and practicing as much as we can. Now, line up in a row, give each other some space and take a basic stance."

The group does as I say and I walk in front and behind them, fixing a few of them along the way. Aido messes his stance up on purpose, I know he did! After roughly pushing his arm and legs into the right place, I walk back to the front of them.

"Now, I want each of you to punch with your right hands until I say stop. Do it like you normally do."

They do so and I check them again. Every girl can't punch to safe their lives. Wonderful. At least the guys can. Even Aido is. Maybe he took my warning. After helping the three girls out with their punches and making them do it a couple of times, I walk back in front. The girls and I decided that we'll start with basic footwork and punches of boxing. It's the most simple fight style and lest flexible.

"Alright, we'll be doing boxing style to start off. We'll move to a new type every week. Now, watch what I do and mimic me when you feel confident enough."

I pull into a boxing stance and begin to bounce on the balls of my feet, side to side. Soon the others are too as well. I tell them to keep doing it and walk around making adjustments. Soon, I get them doing the basic movement and basic punches. After an hour of teaching, I pair them up warning not to hit below the beltline. I do my best to give the girls all girls, but one still gets paired with a guy. Someone taps my shoulder and I look up to Aido. I forgot about him.

"I don't have a partner," he says with a grin. Damn odd numbers!

"Like you really need one," I whisper, "There is no real reason to be here."

"You're here," he whispers back with a mischievous smile.

"You're annoying," I grunt out and take my stance, "Look like you belong in the group, or I'll stick you with the other Night Class students."

He grins and takes a stance as well. We begin to circle each other and he takes weak jabs at my ribs, which I block with my forearms. I jab to his left side and he takes it and tries a soft right hook. I block with my forearms again and left hook for his face. He blocks and sends a faster right hook to my stomach, which I block. I hold up my gloved hand and check on the others. After fixing a few of their stances and watching them, I return to Aido and begin to fight again.

He gives a right jab and I block with my arms again. I give my good left hook. Maybe I can provoke him enough to hit harder and more precise. That way I can get rid of him. After a few more good hooks, he takes my bait and becomes more accurate and clean. I let him slip past my guard to see how hard he really is hitting. I exhale before his fist connects with my side.

Ow! It's not that bad, but certainly surprising. I release some more strength. Rena calls out that we have twenty minutes and that it is time to regroup. Right before we all disengage, I shift a small amount of energy into my arm and left hook Aido right in the face, making him drop right on his back. He looks back up at me shocked that I did that, or rather could do that. I remove my gloves.

"You belong in the advanced group," I say and walk over to the rest of my group that looks flabbergasted, "Good job everyone, for your first day. Time for a cool down and then you guys can change out."

After everyone is changed and back in the main room, Ana makes an announcement.

"For those who still want to keep coming, this club is an all year club," she begins to say; "We'll be off when the school has holidays. Other than that, every weekday, same time and same place. Thank you all for coming out here tonight."

The students begin to disperse steadily, thanks to Kiryuu's glares. I happily crack my back and change the CD in the boom box. I put in some Ozzy Osborne and turn it up a little more. The three Night Class students haven't left yet and are walking over to the other girls. Let's see what this mess might be.

"You ladies are good at teaching," Takuma says with a kind smile and to Sarah and Rena, "I don't believe we met formally. I'm Takuma, Ichijo, vise-president of the Night Class." Didn't know he was vice-president. That sort of explains why he's here. He's evaluating for Kuran.

"I'm Sarah Wave, nice to meet you," she says with a grin.

"Rena McLaughlin."

"I take it you will report this to Kuran," Ana asks with crossed arms.

"I'm sorry, but yes, I will," he says with a sheepish grin.

"Don't be," she says with a shrug, "I'd do the same thing. I don't really recommend any of you coming back, however."

"Are you kicking us out?" Aido playfully asks. I snort and the three males, and fourth maybe, look at me. Why is Kiryuu still here and hanging by the front door?

"It's smarter and safer if you don't show off your… fighting skills," I explain with my hands on my hips, "one slip up is all you need for a messy situation to try to contain."

"We're not forcing any of you out," Ana adds, "We're just highly recommending that you should stop coming for everyone's safety, including your own. We won't actually stop you. We have no real right to." Kiryuu scoffs some, but we all ignore him.

"We'll talk it over with Kaname-sama," Takuma says and bows a little to us before leaving. We all bow on reflex. It's creepy how we do things together sometimes, but that's from years of training. They all leave peacefully, even Aido. He may still be in shock that I knocked him on his snowflake-y ass.

"Thanks for being here, Kiryuu," Ana says with a smile.

"Those Night Class students shouldn't have been here," he mutters back with a glare.

"True," she replies with a half-assed shrug, "But we have you here and we could have stopped them if something did happen." He grunts and walks out the door. Ana sighs and runs out after him. Wonder what's up with that?

"So, Kaitlin," Angelica says, towering behind me, "Wanna spar?"

"Yeah!" I yell back with a grin.

TTTTTTTT(a/n)TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

'Gasp' I'm down here again! The star above is about language class. Japanese school means that English classes are second languages and that the language class is like English classes for Americans. So when you see language classes, I mean like grammar and writing classes.


	5. Chapter 5

Sat. back again! Tell me if you like the P.O.V. changes because there will be more! I think it'll help a lot with character development, but that's just me. In any case, I don't really have any important comments at the moment, except that I love weekends! I own nothing familiar…which is sad…oh well.

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Sarah

Wednesday

Chapter five: Library

Wow, I didn't think there would be a chance to act like a normal teenager. This school is certainly something different. I mean the classes aren't that different from what I learned with the Hunters, excluding the fight classes. The teachers aren't that much different with what is taught or how, not mentioning the punishment we'd receive if we didn't do something right before we left the Hunters. They were always talking about us being the "perfect weapons". I think they're perfect idiots, but that might just be me and the girls with that opinion.

I gotta say, though, the library here is awesome! Not only does it have a good selection of scholarly books, but they have a manga section from heaven! The girls and I have always been into books. We were introduced to mangas by accident. I remember walking down the streets in Tokyo the first time we got to Japan three years ago. I dragged Ana to a bookstore and discovered the wonderful world of manga! I've been addicted ever since. Happily so, in fact.

So, here I am in the library after we finished the fight meeting, looking for a good romance book and three new mangas. I love me a good romance! Fixing my messy bun that holds one of Thetis' Tears, I adjust the ones on the inside of my jeans. I was able to get my homework done during class, so I have a little free time tonight. I walk between the rows of books. It's funny how the lighting changes when you walk out of the aisles. It's so dark between the books that it feels like a little world trapped and invisible from the bigger, brighter world.

Let's see, where is the rest of this manga series? I crouch down to where my most recent series is. I need books thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen. I run my finger across the present books, taking in the numbers and see that… they're missing! All three of them! Aw, man! This sucks big! The card catalog said they were here. It must not have been updated. I heave a large sigh and begin to exit the little aisle world. Whoa! I nearly run into a wall of white.

"Oh! Sorry, Wave-san. I thought you knew I was here."

I look up to see Takuma's bright smile and shimmering green eyes…yes, I think he's hot. I'm still a human teenage girl, here! Cut me some slack.

"It's alright," I say with a smile and back up some, "I'm used to running into things or people or just everything in general."

"Really?" he asks, cocking his head barely, "With the grace you have in hand-to-hand, I never thought of you to be clumsy." I blush a bit at the compliment and slight backhanded compliment. I'm not used to getting any except from the girls.

"Thanks, but it's not always my klutziness," I respond, looking at the other mangas that I might consider starting, "Some times it's just bad timing."

"Ah, I see," he says with a nod, "Why are you here at this time of night?"

"Looking for something new to read. The manga I want to check out isn't in right now," I say and turn my attention to the tall vampire, "Why are you here? Don't you have classes?"

"We are on a break at the moment," he says, pulling a book from the shelf, "You, on the other hand, are breaking school rules being out past lights-out." That's true. It's nine-thirty and lights-out is at nine.

"You gonna turn me into the prefects?" I ask with a sly smirk.

"No," he says returning my smirk, "I think your bad timing might turn you in."

"Ah, but you forget," I say holding my finger up in a dignified manner, "I can't be caught. Ana and I are always the hardest ones to catch and we have proof of that."

"What kind of proof?"

"We were told by the Hunters, while we were training with them, that we were a bitch to find and catch." He chuckles a bit at that and I just shrug.

"You certainly don't seem as intimidating as you did during the meeting we had with Kaname-sama," he comments, pulling out another book. Wow, he thinks I was intimidating.

"It was sort of necessary. That was to basically let you guys know that we are not to be underestimated. The message was especially made for Kuran."

"May I ask what the issue is you are having with Kaname-sama?"

I look at him with no humor in my eyes or face at all. He needs to know that it isn't just an _issue_, but a major problem. That this problem is very serious and more life threatening to the girls and me than any of them will ever know. Maybe Kuran knows that and that's why he still has what we need.

"It's much more than an issue, Takuma-san. I'm afraid that I have no real authority to tell you such matters without a full group consult. Until then, you have no right or need to know such details."

"And, there is that intimidating person again," he says with a smile. My brows shoot up some in surprise. He doesn't really care that I just kinda talked down to him? Weird.

"You're not … very arrogant, are you?"

"I don't see the point to be," he says with that same smile.

I can't help but return it. Shaking my head, I maneuver past him and head towards the romance section. This isn't very large, but the books are long. I read very fast, so 800 page books are done within three days at most. I like books, what can I say?

"It's odd to see what kind of books you like," he comments behind me. I figured he'd still be behind me.

"What about you with vampire mangas?" I ask, sending a grin at him. He sheepishly smiles back.

"Why romance novels?"

Reaching up to the top shelf to pull an interesting book out, I say, "Because we all want what we can't have. My salve is books with relationships I can never have."

"Why is that?"

"For nearly the same reason you can't," I say turning the dark red book over to read the back, "It complicates things for various reasons."

"Have you always wanted a relationship?" I shrug.

"I want some small form of normalcy," I sigh out and push the book back into place, "I don't get it very often, but I'm happy with the way I am." And with what I am.

He doesn't respond as I crouch down to pull out another book; this one is bright blue with a school building on the front. I flip it over and read the summary. A girl that has everything a teenager could want but a family. She was abandoned at the age of seven and wasn't adopted until she was thirteen. Now in high school, she meets a boy who has nothing but his family and school. They meet and become fascinated with each other. This looks like a good, slightly cliché one. It's pretty thick, so it should last me a few days. I look up from my spot to see that he's still looking at me.

"I'll see you later, Takuma-san," I say and check the book out on my own. I wrote a note to the librarian, telling him what book I took out and my name and student number.

Silver moonlight flitters through the glass, sending tall outlines of the windows on the hall floor I walk on. Stopping in front of one window, I slide my hand into the light and watch my skin turn gray. Gently and silently, I slide a Tear out of my inner beltline and hold it in the light. The metal dulls in blue color but glints, the solemn rays running over the etched magi circle. I could get in trouble for this. My wrist twists to point the Tear at who ever is behind me, reflexes taking over. He puts his hands up, which are occupied with books. Takuma?

"Sorry to startle you again," he says with a small and uneasy grin. I lower my arm, letting it hang.

"I think you would have been sorrier if I reacted further."

"That is a beautiful dagger," he says nodding to my Tear. I flip it a little in my hand and present it to him so he can see it better.

"I call it Thetis' Tears."

"There is more than one?"

In response, I fold my beltline down some so he can see the hilts of the other daggers as I place the one I have out back. Then, I tug out the one in my hair, letting it fall heavily to my back. I quickly twist it back up and slide the dagger through again.

"Very inventive," he says with a small laugh.

"I have a lot of hair," I say with a shrug, "Might as well use it for something than it just being there." He chuckles at my comment. Well, it's true.

We both continue down the hallway and my gaze hits the windows lined on the wall. The grounds look like a fairytale setting. Though, I'm certainly no princess in this book; I'm the blood drenched monster hidden amongst the little humans of the castle. I think it's funny that no one really knows that we exist and that the thought of vampires existing is more plausible than us.

Little did anyone or thing know that there are some creatures worse than vampires and werewolves out there. I snort a small laugh, earning a glance from Takuma. I look at the midnight blue sky sprinkled with stars an—oh! A shooting star! Stopping, my eyes snap shut as I make a wish. Childish, yes, but it is stupid little things like this that gave me hope when I was little. The habit never broke as I got older.

"What are you doing?" he asks. Grinning at him I say, "Making a wish. I saw a shooting star outside."

"Really?"

"Yup!" He laughs after a few seconds of delay.

"Hey, don't laugh at me!" I snap back at him with a pout.

"I'm sorry, Wave-san," he says controlling his laugh, "You're just a very odd person. You seem to have split personalities."

"No, that's the Headmaster," I say and keep walking, "I just think it's important to have a normal personality when I'm not being serious. There's no real point in being serious all the time." Then, I'd end up like how Ana was when I first met her.

"Well, I'm afraid this is where I have to turn," Takuma says with that same little smile, "It was very pleasant talking to you, Wave-san. Maybe we could do it some other time."

"Maybe," I say with a nod, "have a good class."

"Good evening," he says turning down the left hallway and to an open classroom. Aido pops his head out to see who is coming and waves at me. I hesitantly wave back and leave before he could stop me.

It's strange. How is Takuma so nice and is Kuran's second in command? Ah, well they come in all shapes and sizes. Heading up the dark and marble staircases, I wander slowly towards my room. Silently opening the door, I tiptoe in and head towards my bed. I glace over to Ana to see…she's not there. What the hell? Dropping my new book on my bed, I flip the lamp on and look at my friend's empty bed. There is a ripped sheet of loose leaf sitting on it. Picking it up I read Ana's messy handwriting that says she had to talk to Kiryuu about something and would be back sometime before midnight, hopefully.

What's up with this guy? Why is Ana being so compliant to him? He's such a jerk. Maybe the others would know what's going on. Ooh! What if Ana likes this guy?! That would be so sweet! …Never mind, I don't think Ana could like a guy…I'm not sure. I walk out of my room with the note in hand and head to Kaitlin and Rena's room and knock on the door. Rena opens it wearing a baby pink t-shirt that she's had for six years and dark blue shorts.

"What's up, Sarah?" she asks, moving out of the way to let me in. after she closes the door, I sit down on Kaitlin's bed.

"I have a question, you guys," I say and glance at the note in my hand.

"Shoot," Kaitlin says from her desk. She's sitting backwards, straddled in the chair while wearing spaghetti string red top and black pants.

"Do either of you know what's going on between Ana and Kiryuu?" I ask handing the note over to Rena. The skinny blonde reads over it with a little bit of confusion.

"This is a bit strange," she mutters and hands off the note to Kaitlin.

"Why is this guy important to her?" asks the short brunette, posing the question at me. I shrug in response.

"My question is: why is she seeing him past lights-out?" Rena says slowly and takes a seat on her bed.

"The only time I know of when she did this was the first day of classes when he wanted to talk to her," I say, listing off with my fingers, "And this past Monday after the first meeting in the Fight Hall. She came back a bit late from that too. She was annoyed and a little flustered, but she can be so guarded, even I can't say for certain what she's feeling."

"It seems that you know more about this than we do," Kaitlin mummers, staring hard at the note.

"Alright, then," I say with a sigh, "I'll go talk to Angelica and see what she thinks."

Kaitlin hands the note back over and I walk out the door, shutting it quietly. Soon, after a flight of stairs and check the hallway for Yuuki, I knock on Angelica's door. I hear a muffled "come in" and open the door. Entering the dark room, I walk towards where I know Angelica is as she flips a lamp on. She sits up from her bed while rubbing her eyes and pushes back her covers.

"Is something wrong?" she asks with a sleepy voice. I hand her the note.

"I'm not sure, actually," I say and take a seat on her bed, "Sorry for waking you, but this was the only time I could do this, now that I think about it."

"She's talking to Kiryuu," she states and drops the note on her lap, "So what?"

"Don't you think it's a little strange? You know that she only gives this much attention to someone important. It makes more sense for her to be talking to Kuran at this time of night than to him."

"Jealous, little Sarah?" she asks with a malicious grin. I glare at her.

"Worried."

"Think about it, spaz-child," she says, leaning foreword, "This guy obviously doesn't like vampires and yet he is one. Self-hating. Sound familiar?" Oh. Oh!

"So that's why?" I ask getting up, "She feels sorry for him?"

"She doesn't want what happened to her or me to happen to others. Just like one of us wouldn't want anyone to deal with what we dealt with in the Hunters," she says, snuggling back down into her blankets. I pick up the note again, looking at her messy scrawled writing.

"Well, damn. I thought she might like this guy."

"Maybe she does."

"Do you like anyone here?" I see her shoulders move up and back down in a laying down shrug. That's not a no! Perhaps I can play matchmaker for all of the girls!

"Sorry for waking you up. Night," I says and turn the lamp off and leave her room without tripping over anything.

Ana needs some lovin' and Kiryuu might just help with this situation.

T(Thursday)TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

I glace between the two quiet people. This is harder than it sounds because Kiryuu is way up at the top of the elevated desks and Ana is right next to me. This glancing isn't very discrete to Ana, but oh well. I haven't asked her anything about what happened last night. She didn't get back until around 12:30. Yes, I stayed up that long and I'm halfway through my book. I need to check another out tonight. Taking a deep breath, I gather up my courage and tap Ana on the shoulder.

"What did you and Kiryuu talk about last night?"

"He just asked some questions," she says, looking at her history notes. We have a quiz today.

"About what?"

"Us."

"You mean, what we are?" I ask lowly in English. She nods and flips her page of scribbled notes.

"Why?"

"He just wants to know more about what we are," she mutters, "Do you remember studying a record of a family of Hunters that were murdered by a pureblood?"

"Yeah, they were supposed to be really good and have one prodigal son out of two. Why?"

"Remember the name of the family?"

"Er, not really. I read it when I was around nine or so and it was only for a moment. We weren't supposed to be in Spain at the time, you know."

"That was _his_ family."

"Holy shit!"

"Shh," she hisses out with a glare, "He doesn't know that we know that."

"I didn't know we knew that," I mutter, returning the glare.

"Photographic memory when it comes to stats of who did something, when and how. I can never remember the why part, remember?" she says, looking back at her notes.

That's true. Each of our abilities affects us in other ways that no one knows about. I remember every event that happened around me. It's like a movie to me and I have the script. Kaitlin can draw scene of places that she sees in dreams. We found out that these places weren't from her imagination, but from other people. It's still unsure how this dream dipping works or what it is, but she has it.

Rena, on the other hand, can send people nightmares by accident or on purpose. The rebound is that she has them too. Angelica has the oddest extra ability out of all of us. She can control electric signals that run up and down the spinal cord when that person is asleep. Yeah, we never told the Hunters any of this, so it's not on record. That's really important.

"Wow, what a conundrum," I mutter and look over my own notes. I see Ana nod out of the corner of my eye.

"Alright, everyone!" Mr. Kaze says down at his desk, "Notes away and take out a pen. It's time for the quiz." The class groans and Ana and I sigh. I really don't like this guy.

After everything today, I head up to the library again. The meeting went well and we only lost five people out of the whole class number. Those five were girls and fan girls at that. They stopped coming since none of the Night Class isn't coming anymore, which is good for all of us in general. I decide to wander around the library instead of going to the usual places I go to. I haven't changed out of my baggy grey shirt and black shorts. I head towards the science section.

"Well, Wave-san. We meet again." I turn to see Takuma behind me. I smile at him and scratch the back of my neck.

"Yeah, I'm almost done with the book I got last night," I say, walking towards him.

"Already?" he asks with his brows shot up some.

"I had some time on my hands," I respond holding up my palms, "On break again?"

"Yes," he says with a nod.

"Well," I draw out, running out of things to talk about, "How's your day go so far."

"Fairly well, if Aido would stop skipping classes," he says with a small frown.

"You could try and let Kaitlin keep him in place," I say, "I'd pay money to see that."

"That would be entertaining," he says with a grin, "He wouldn't stop talking about how she could have knocked him on his back in the first meeting you ladies held."

"Well, don't get women mad," I says with a shaking finger, "Especially southern girls from America. Man, you've never seen scary until you've seen Ana and Kaitlin angry."

"I hope I don't have to witness that," he say with larger grin.

The conversation begins to drift off into what types of books we like, what types of mangas, what we like to do in our free time, and the few places we've been to. I've been more places than him! I didn't tell him all of them or what I was doing there at the time. I'm not that blonde. Glancing at the clock on the wall above the door, I notice that it's 9:45. Gah!

"Hey, doesn't your break end at 9:40?" I frantically ask.

"Oh, it does," he says looking at the clock as well, "Great, I'm late."

"I'm sorry," I say, dropping my head.

"Don't worry about it," he says with a smile and places his hand on my shoulder, "I enjoyed talking to you."

We walk towards the library door to head towards the hallway. As we turn to walk around a table─ow! Aw, man I hate it when this happens! I lightly hiss while holding my hip that knocked into the corner of the table. It knocks me off my feet a bit and I fall sideways a little. I feel his arms hold me by my shoulders, but I don't really care 'cause this hurts! I pull my beltline down some and see red skin in the shape of one of my dagger hilts. That'll be a weird bruise.

"Are you alright?" he asks above me.

I look up to see his slightly worried face and realize that he's still holding me. Wait a minute…whoa! I jump out of his arms while scratching the back of my neck nervously. My face begins to heat up. Aw, damn it!

"Oh, yeah I'm fine, but you should get to class! Sorry about knocking into you, but like I said, bad timing! See ya!" I say in one breath and break for the door. I hope he didn't understand any of that.

I continue to run until I get to my door. I open the door and nearly slam it shut. Leaning against it, I try to let my lungs catch up since I left them in the library. Pressing my hand to my forehead, an old habit to try and calm me down, a thought hits me.

"I didn't even get a book!"

"Sarah, what's wrong with you?" Ana asks from her desk. She looks very worried and confused as she sits in her workout clothes, pouring over her math homework.

"I had a spaz moment," I mutter and flop on my bed.

"Want to talk about it?" she asks turning to look at while putting her pencil down.

"Do you know Takuma?" I ask and she nods, "Well, I was talking to him in the library because he was on break and I was looking for a new book and when we where leaving the library, I knocked into a table and into him." I do a face palm and Ana just snorts a laugh.

"Seems you've got a crush," she says, turning back to her homework.

"No I do not!" I argue back turning red and trying not to smile. I can never lie to this girl. Wait, if I can't lie, does that mean…?

"Sarah, I can hear you turning red and I can hear your smile," she says with a matter of fact voice, not even slowing the movements of her pencil. Damn it! How can she do that!

"Don't be silly, Ana," I growl back at her, "You know that we can't have relationships like that."

"Not with humans, no," she says, putting her homework into her book and getting up, "But he's not human and he can take care of himself or he wouldn't be Kuran's second." Fine, all of these things have merit, but I'm not saying that out loud.

"There will be one problem," she says while gathering up her sleep clothes.

"Oh, and what is that?" Yes, a reason against this thing!

"You'll have to deal with a lot of angry fan girls and fan boys," she says with a large grin and shuts the bathroom door before I could lunge at her.

I don't have a crush, do I?

RRRRRRRRR(Friday)RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

School's out for the day. We decided to cancel the meeting tonight because of a major paper due on Monday. I really am thinking about clean ways to get rid of Mr. Kaze. He's messing with our sparing time. I'm sitting on a little hill, watching the soon-to-be dipping sun. I rolled my socks down to my ankles, because they're so friggin' annoying! I popped my jacket opened and ditched the little bow thingy that ties at the top. Pulling out a notebook from my discarded blue backpack, I tug out a pen and start to think about what to write.

My hand begins to write over the lined sheet. I don't notice what words I'm writing down until I feel finished. Stopping and pulling myself out of the daze, I read what I wrote down. It's a poem of the first mission the girls and I did as a group when we were all about seven. Wonder why I'm thinking about this now. I begin to read the lines and start to change the end-stops and enjambments. I also fix the grammar and change some words. When I think I've done enough editing for the moment, I lay the notebook on top of my backpack. Stretching out my limbs I lie down and begin to doze off.

LLLLLLL(???????)LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Grass crunches and rustles near my head. Someone picks up my notebook. I wake up to see a dark sky over Takuma. He seems to be interested with my notebook. How long have I been out? Some water is on my legs. Must be late dew.

"Find something interesting?" I ask and watch him jump a little. Heh, I love making people jump.

"Did you write this?" he asks, kneeling next to me.

"Yeah," I respond and sit up, stretching my arms over my head, "It needs work. I'm gonna let Angelica take a look at it later on. What time is it?"

"Around eleven," he says offering a hand to me. I take his cool hand and get up, brushing off my skirt in the process.

"Wow, really?"

"Yes."

"Oh jeez. The girls probably don't know where I am," I mummer, gathering up my backpack and taking my notebook back.

"May escort you back to the dorms?" he says with a playful bow.

"Please do," I say with a fake snooty ascent, "I wouldn't want to get mauled by fan girls or by the prefects for being out so late."

"Well, I'm afraid that I can't save you from your friends," he says offering me his arm. I loosely loop my through his and we head to the Sun dorms. We chatter on about what we did today and I recommend some new books to him. We say our goodbyes and I start to head up the stairs.

"Wow, you interacting with a guy on your own," Ana says behind me.

I jump five feet in the air and whip around. She leans between the main entrance door and the window with a small grin that's her trademark face. How'd she know I was here? Oh, wait she's the radar. Damn. I haven't made it to the staircase yet. I shift nervously and look at the floor. She walks up to me and encircles my shoulders with a laugh. I look up to see a very happy expression on her face. That's kind of rare.

"Congrats on being social able. But, next time don't fall asleep in fields again," she says with a grin as we walk up the stairs.

"How'd you know I fell asleep?" I ask with wide eyes. She's not mad at me talking to Takuma so easily?

"You stayed in one place for so long, I figured you fell asleep," she says, opening our door.

"You know me too well," I say, dropping my backpack next to my bed.

"Yes, I do," she says handing me sleep clothes and walking me to the bathroom, "Which is why it's safe to say that you have a total crush on Takuma."

She shoves me in the bathroom and shuts the door before I could even process what she said. I have a what?! I've never had a crush before in my life! None that I can remember anyway. I absently turn on the shower and begin to strip down, carefully placing the Tears on the counter. I get into the shower, letting the pulsing water drench me.

Let's think about this. I, out of most people, know what the signs are for a crush. Alright, nervousness? Not really. Sentences coming out the wrong way when you want to say something else refined? Once, but that was because I knocked in to him. Oh, wait; flustered on contact? Yeah, I got that one, I admit it. Um, let's see…like to be around them? Yeah, he's pretty cool to talk to. I don't show any emotional signs except fluster in contact. Does this mean I like him? I'm a super empathic person! I should know! If I don't know, does that mean I like him?

…I need some help.


	6. Chapter 6

Sat. back and with a good vacation under the belt! I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I was just happy to be home! Which means I did nothing but sleep, clean, cook and eat! It was glorious. Plus I saw Twilight. Yes, just hell yes. That's all I can say right now: hell yes. Hey, I'm getting hits from places I can't pronounce…awesome! Anyway, time for another P.O.V. change! I own nothing familiar! 'Tis sad.

66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666

Chapter six: Learn to Stay Away

Ana

What would people do without the weekend? Better question: How did people do without the weekend before it was made? Sarah left some time around ten and its twelve now. Yeah, I can sleep for a while. The good news is that I got all of my homework done, including Kaze's insane essay. This school has a few loonies in it, that's for sure. I'm not allowed to talk, but oh well. This means that I have today and Sunday to sleep in! My stomach begins to rumble as I lay on it. The vibrations shake the bed springs. Time to find some food.

I grab the first pair of jeans I find; faded black ones with ripped pant leg bottoms. All of my jeans are like this because only the regular size will fit my hips and thighs, but I'm too short. Henceforth, ripped pants. I grab a green t-shirt with a foamy mouthed tree that says, "Be friendly to trees or they'll attack" in English. Slipping my room key in my pocket and setting Ares Eyes' inside my belt loop; I'm off to the cafeteria.

The gray and silver cafeteria is pretty devoid of people, which makes it easier for me to get food and not get stares. Even after all this time, we still get stares. These people need to get out of their country more. I know that Kaitlin and Rena are working on the paper of doom from Kaze and that Sarah and Angelica are off running into town. Scouting for good shops is what they told me. Sitting down in a sunny corner, I begin to eat my apple first. I love apples, I really do. Glancing around the large and empty room, a though hits me. Where do Yuuki and Kiryuu eat on the weekends? Err, I shouldn't ask that. Kiryuu has been avoiding me more than Kuran as of late, and that's saying something. Monday and Wednesday weren't very good days at all.

I gather up my empty tray and turn it in. I guess I'll go back to my room and read some. Got nothing better to do. Once I snap my door shut, I flop uncaringly on the bed. Wait, I don't have a book to read. Brilliant. Well, I'm not trekking all the way to the library. That's Sarah's pastime. I guess Kiryuu is taking Kuran's advice. I never thought he would take it from Kuran or from anyone for that matter.

_FFFFFFFFFF(Monday)FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF_FFFF

"_Thanks for being here, Kiryuu," I say with a smile._

"_Those Night Class students shouldn't have been here," he mutters back with a glare._

"_True," I reply with a half-assed shrug, "But we have you here and we could have stopped them if something did happen." _

_He grunts and walks out the door. I sigh and run out after him. I'm going to get it into that thick silver haired skull of his that even vampires have rights. __I look around the darkened forested area. Man, this guy can move. Damn his long legs. My radar tugs me into the wooded patch. I jog through the semi-thick brush. Wait. Northwest, Level A. Shit, Kuran. Why is he here? Hiding behind a tree, I lean my back against it, staying very still and suppressing my energy to be nearly undetected. I can't make it go away completely. _

"_What do you want, Kuran-sempei?" Kiryuu asks, nearly spiting the question at him._

"_I came to warn you." _

_What?_

"_Why?"_

"_You need to be around for Yuuki." _

_Yuuki? Is that his other reason for being here?_

"_What is your warning?"_

"_Stay away from Ana and her friends. They are very dangerous and always have trouble in their paths." _

"_And I'm supposed to take your advice?" _

"_If you want to keep your life and to protect Yuuki, yes, you will. Good evening Kiryuu-san and Ms. Rose." _

_Damn. He knows my energy too well. I listen to him walk away and come around the tree. The prefect looks a little annoyed that I followed him. Alright, very annoyed._

"_I can never really hide from him," I comment, running my hand through my bangs, "He recognizes my energy too easily no matter how well I suppress it."_

"_Why did you follow me?"_

"_To be honest, I want you to understand that everything that's alive, or the undead in some cases, has some form of rights." _

_Seems this guy's getting some lectures all over the place._

"_Heartless killers and monsters don't deserve rights," he snips back at me._

"_I've been called that more than once. Does that apply to me too?" I respond with a stoic voice. _

_His face falters for a moment before he turns away from me. He doesn't leave. I sigh. That came out a little strongly._

"_I'm sorry," I mummer, looking at the ground, "for what ever happened to you. But you need to understand that you're quarrel is with that one person, despite what they are. If you don't learn to direct hate to that lone person who deserves it, you'll kill yourself."_

"_And you would know something about that?" he growls at me. _

_I look up and nod. He narrows his eyes at me, either in a glare or a thoughtful look. I'm not sure._

"_You should heed Kuran, though," I say, changing the subject, "It's not safe to be around us or to know us. That's part of the reason none of us has made friends here."_

"_Why should I avoid you?" he asks, some curiosity seeping in his voice._

"_Do you think the Hunters have stopped looking for us?" I ask back leaning on a tree, "We're far too valuable to them and we know some things they don't want let out. We've got some pretty bounties on our heads and not only from the Hunters, but others as well."_

_He doesn't respond with anything but silence. I look at the darkening sky through the branches. It's time to leave, but first there is something I need to find out. _

"_What is Yuuki to Kuran?"_

"_She…" he trails off, glaring at the ground and clinching his fists, "was saved by him when she was around ten."_

_Saved? Kuran doesn't save anyone unless there is a good reason to. There must be more to this than Kiryuu's letting on. By his expression, I'm not going to nag the question on. He looks angry, confused and in pain. Angelica also said that Yuuki is on the top of important list in his mind. This doesn't make much sense, but it's useful. It'll help later. _

"_G'night, Kiryuu," I say and begin to walk away, "Take his advice and stay away from us. Not everyday that ass gives good advice to people he doesn't like."_

_WWWWWWWW(Wednesday)WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW_

_Sarah is off in the library. I swear that girl could live in that place. All you'd need is a kitchen and she'd be good. I braid my wet hair and ruffle my dripping bangs. Our meeting just let out and I was able to take a shower. Luckily, the only homework I have is science and that's just reading a few pages. Plopping on my bed, I begin to skim through the pages. My radar picks up a Level E walking down the corridor. Suddenly, someone knocks on my door. I snatch up a black t-shirt, since I'm wearing a white spaghetti string shirt and some blue sweat pants. I open the door to see Kiryuu._

_"You don't listen very well, do you?" I ask, leaning on the doorframe, "Why are you here?"_

_"I need to talk to you," he says, ignoring my light insulting question._

_"Come in, then," I say, moving aside. _

_"We need to talk some other place," he says, taking a tense step or two in._

_"Fine, let me get some shoes and socks on."_

_I rummage in my closet and tug out a pair of tennis shoes. Sliding on a pair of red socks, I tie my shoes on. Walking to the bathroom, I take my hanging towel and grip my braid and bangs through it. Going to my desk, I rip a sheet out and scribble a quick note and grab my black jacket that has my two daggers in them. It would be a good idea that no one knows about our little arsenal that we have._

_He opens the door and I follow after, locking it. We walk down the quiet hallway and down the stairs. Why is he insisting on talking to me? I never saw him yesterday, not during classes either. Why now? My radar picks up the other vampires in the classrooms and Yuuki around that area. We walk to the stables again. I choke a sigh welling in my stomach. He stops in the middle and looks at the soft dirt floor._

_"Well," I start and cross my arms, "Let's hear it."_

_"What do you know about the Hunters?" I roll my eyes._

_"They're a bunch of ruthless idiots that can't understand that the world is about balance that shifts all the time."_

_"Do you think that about all of them?" he asks in a low and almost threatening voice. _

_He's trying to call me a hypocrite. _

_"No, just the ones I was subjected to. I've actually met a few good ones with their heads in the right place, like Cross. There aren't that many of them left."_

_Silence lingers between us. The only sounds that fill the long stable are the bugs outside and, of course, the horses. I walk over to a black stallion and rub his ears. Sarah's right, he does make things tense. Glancing over to him, he just stares at me. The silver moonlight filters in, making his hair gleam and his lilac eyes shine. Vampire thing or trick of the light? He seems…celestial with that moonlight on him._

_"Would you…really help the monsters in this school if it was attacked?"_

_"Would you help me if I was in a bad situation?" _

_I hear him choke on whatever he was about to say._

_"Listen to me, moron," I say with sudden bubbled anger from my stomach, whirling to face him, "You don't know what it means to be a monster. Being a monster is doing things without the regard of consequences. You heard stories of what vampires did to humans and other hunters, but did you ever hear why they went after the vampires or what the vampire levels were in that couragous fight? Did you stop to consider that they were attacked by vampires just because they fired first at vampires? One is a monster when they kill for only one narrow minded reason, or when they don't care about the reason at all. They just…do as they're told."_

_"You know what I am—" _

_"Yeah, a guy that doesn't know anything about being a monster and that has a good heart."_

_He glares at me, but the look slowly lessens. Does that mean I'm getting through? I glance at the stallion and notice how unnerved he is. I slowly move away from him and towards the middle of the stable. The great black horse calms down some. _

_"There must be another reason you brought me out here," I say, crossing my arms._

_"You know things that the Hunters don't want out," he states and I nod, "Do you know which vampires attacked hunters in the last decade or so?" _

_I know what he wants. He wants me to give him the name of his family's killer._

_"You want me to tell you the name of the vampire that killed your family?"_

_"How did you…?" _

_Might as well tell him._

_"We were in Spain at the time and looking for any good information and places to hide. I came across your file, but I didn't have time to read who the vampire was. Only that it was a she and a pureblood. Sorry."_

_He most likely already knows what I told him._

_"You…know?"_

_"Only the stats, but yeah. There's a lot I know."_

_Silence lingers in the stables again. Even the horses are quiet. I glance around. I don't think I can come back here for a while. They most likely don't trust me much right now. I hear clothes rustle and the cock of a gun along with a jingle of chain. I look to see him holding a silver gun pointblank at my face. A rose is etched on the side of it._

_"Go ahead. You're neither the first nor the last to try this."_

_He tightens his grip._

_"May I ask why?" I say, not even glancing from his murderous look._

_"You're wanted by the Hunters and I still work for them. You _do_ know too much information, so I'm taking you in."_

_"Better get different ammunition," I say with a scoff, "You're using the wrong bullets for this species." _

_Common sense would tell me that he has anti-vampire bullets. I hadn't counted on him being a Hunter still or at all. Just my luck. Slowly he lowers his weapon along with his head. I walk towards him and place my hand on his shoulder. He tries to shrug it off, but I don't let him. He glares down at me and tries to punch my gut. I easily block his hand._

_"You can turn me in if you like," I whisper, "But think of what else that might bring. Do you really want a bunch of trigger happy hunters _here_? You know Yuuki will try and stop the fighting. Hell, just by talking to her a few times, I know she'd jump in the crossfire." I let him go and start to walk out of the stable._

_"You're manipulative," he mutters._

_"I look at all the possibilities and avoid the most negitive ones."_

_"Tell me everything about your abilities," he demands with a low voice._

_"Why? It wouldn't be beneficial to either of us. The more you know, the more likely you'll become a target along with everyone around you." _

_"Wait," he calls. _

_I turn around to look at him._

_"You left the Hunters," he says, "Why?"_

_"A few people gave me a moral kick in the head and showed me the consequences of my previous actions," I respond, "The only problem is, is that the Hunters have a one-way membership. No one really leaves. Get some sleep. You look like hell."_

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I came back to Sarah slumped on her pillow and already halfway through her book that night. Why am I telling him so much? Am I sympathizing too much with him? In fact, I should be pushing him away to keep him and everyone else here safe. Should I be so talkative, even if I'm not telling him all the really meaty details? If it was anyone else, I'd just walk away without as much as an insulting word to throw over my shoulder. My mouth just kind of loses control with him sometimes, even if it doesn't seem like it. Why him? This doesn't make much sense. I'm getting a headache.

Time to do the only thing that sorts my head of plaguing thoughts: practice. I change into an old pair of black shorts and a blue t-shirt. Walking into the bathroom, I brush out my blonde hair with red and black streaks. Only a few people know this, but the black is natural. I put the red in there. Sarah's blue is natural as well. We don't like to tell that bit of information very much.

I braid my hair up and wash my face out of old habit. Every time I would either practice or go on a mission, I'd wash my face quickly. I dab my face dry and look at my icy blue irises rimmed with black-blue. Time to go. My legs take me to the Fight Hall and I use my key to open it. Kaitlin has the other key. Heading towards the office, I pop the door open and slide my shoes and socks off. Not bothering with the mats, I stretch out my body, getting every last muscle. Some joints crack, sending tingles through the nerves that are close to it.

Taking my normal stance with half poised hands, I slowly bring my limbs into the basic sequence and pivot where it's needed. A song is stuck in my mind. Born Like This by Three Days Grace. My brain starts the song from the beginning as I keep my slow pace.

_It's not what I took from you_

_It's not what I stole  
We are born like this  
Like this _

My body begins to move a little fast with the beat of the song in my head while tension eases out of me.

_The time has come to change this  
To stretch the thought a mile  
We've lost that kind of spirit_

_We want it back today  
The time is right to change this  
To make the life we know  
They took what we were given  
We'll get it back again  
Somewhere someone's gun, someone's gun is laughing _

How will we get away from the Hunters? We've been trying for years. These bastards are all over the place. They're difficult to hide from. My limbs move faster, jabbing more forcefully into the empty air.

_It's not what I gave to you_

_It's not what I sold_

_We are born like this_

_It's not what I took from you_

_It's not what I stole  
We are born like this  
Like this _

Who would help us get exemption? Who would be crazy enough to do that in the Hunters? Even Cross wouldn't do that. He knows how insane that is and how harmful it would be. Cross has too much to lose. The Hunters may be idiots, but they are still very dangerous. And what about Kuran?

_You try your best to mock me  
You're always in my way  
You've lost what you've been given  
You'll get it back today  
The time is right to change this  
To make the life we know  
They took what we were given  
We want it back again  
Somewhere someone's gun, someone's gun is laughing_

My energy flares and I barely contain it. I close my eyes and let my instincts take over, dropping my radar nearly to a zero radius. Kuran is a large root of my problems. He and the Hunters is number one. That bastard knows well that he could bend any of us into his will if he threatens to give the Hunters back the information his family took in the first place. Not only that, but he could hand us over in general and just keep that information. Either one is very valuable, but the bodies of the weapons are more important. Almost anyone can learn about our abilities by simply testing us in various ways. That's partially what's in the files anyway, and that part could be redone.

_It's not what I gave to you_

_It's not what I sold_

_We are born like this_

_It's not what I took from you_

_It's not what I stole  
We are born like this  
Like this _

He would turn us in. I know him too well when it comes to negotiations. He would do that as a last resort or use it against us. Even though he hates my guts in particular, he'd love me in on his little chess game. It's sad… that we used to be friends once, even though we betrayed each other at the same time. He did it for his family; I did it for the Hunters. I didn't care at the time, but a year later, I understood that what he did hurt and I hurt him.

_Somewhere you're floating high  
You're not living  
We are  
Somewhere someone's gun, someone's gun is laughing, laughing_

I know why he is the way he is. I do pity him, but I also can't help but hate him. He was my first friend and the first contact with a kid my age. If I understood at the time that he wouldn't be my friend after or that what I did really hurt him, I would have hid in his family's house and dropped being a Hunter all together. We may still be friends, maybe even consider each other siblings instead of scorned enemies. I do miss his playful side and how we used to play in woods near his house. It tears my heart up.

_It's not what I took from you_

_It's not what I stole  
We are born like this  
Like this _

I don't hate him.

_It's not what I took from you_

_It's not what I stole  
We are born like this  
Like this _

I hate what he's become. An emotionless manipulator.

_It's not what I took from you_

_It's not what I stole  
We are born like this  
_

I open my eyes to my dark bloody energy surrounding my whole body. I stop moving. An ultimate form of our power. It's very physical. The edges are in black wisps off my arms and hands like smoke or mist. I breath out and my breathe is bloody mist. I can form this into any object I want. This is something only the Hunters know about. This aura form of energy. The most efficient killing method. It seeps in and sucks out energy in living things faster than we can shift. It's like a beer poured directly in someone's veins; instant death.

The crimson smoke ripples on its own. Someone's here! Kiryuu?! I immediately let my energy go, hoping my irises aren't crimson and the whites aren't black.

"How long were you there?!" I nearly yell at him, stalking up to him.

"Not long," he says with slightly wide eyes and tries leave. I grab his white shirt collar and pull him down to my height.

"Listen really close," I growl in a low voice, "You can't tell _anyone_ what you just saw, not even my girls, got it?" He nods. I let go.

"You're in deep shit now," I say, pushing him out the door, "What you just witnessed is the main thing the Hunters want back. Now that you know, you're nearly as valuable as me and the girls now. _Congrats_."

I shut and lock the door. Fuck! Why did I let my guard down so much?! That was a Class F mistake! I need to avoid him now, more than he already has. I walk back to my socks and shoes, tugging them on. Maybe what he saw scared him away from me. That has happened before, but that was during missions and they usually died. I lock the office door and head towards the dressing room. He may get even more curious and try to stop me on my way out. My radar says he's still at the front door, so I'm leaving through the window and leaving the lights on. He might think I'm still in there.

Landing on the grass softly, I sprint into the woods. He's following me now. It'll be easy to lose him. I easily jump over brush and fallen limbs, leaving a nearly invisible trail. Building some energy, I leap high into a tree and freeze my body stiff. He comes into the little area under the tree I'm in and stops. Not bad, for an inexperienced hunter. He has the instincts. He glances around, slowly taking in every direction. I form a small dagger out of my energy and shoot it off to the left. It hits a limb and sends it crashing, instantly withering it. He bolts for that direction. I count ten Mississippi's and jump out of the tree and back to the dorms. I shut the door, quietly and holding my breath. After slowly locking the door I release my breath and lean my head on the door.

"What happened to you?" Sarah asks behind me.

Now the question is: Do I tell the girls? Let's weigh the pros and cons. I ignore Sarah's questions as I take a seat on my bed. Pros: I'll have more help if something leaks out. It's the right thing to do and I won't feel guilty. Trust won't be questioned again like the last time I did something like this. Cons: It could leak out to other people, besides the girls. The more people who know, the bigger the chances are of the information leaking. Trust compromised. Kuran and/or Cross could get involved and there are a lot of things they could do. This could reach all the way to the Hunters and then all hell will break loose. Well, I already made a stupid mistake, let's make another.

"—etter stop ignoring me right now, damnit! Ana Luncia Rose!"

"Shut it," I say with a monotone voice in English.

She chokes on her lips.

"I did something really stupid," I start, leaning on the wall, "I was practicing with my energy and Kiryuu saw me."

She blinks at me a few times, her finger in midair from shaking it at me. She opens her mouth a few times, before sitting down on her bed. I glare at her surprised face. It's not that big of a deal. I may not be completely human, or at least a normal one, but I make mistakes too.

"Really?" she finally asks, "You're not pullin' my leg?"

"I wish."

"…How?"

"I went to go clear my head and dropped my radar to nearly nothing. I didn't expect anyone to come to the Hall today, with it being Saturday."

"Really?" she asks in a higher voice, "I mean really, really?"

"Yeah, really," I growl at her with a nasty glare.

"Want me to tell the others?"

"Through Angelica and ask her to pass it telepathically," I say, going to the bathroom, "I don't want it said in open air again."

"Got it," she says getting up, "Be back soon."

I feel like banging my head into the wall for this stupid mistake. I take a quick shower instead. The lights are still on in the Hall. While pulling on my jeans and tree shirt again, I extend my radar in that general direction. He's headed this way. Time to leave again. He's already up the stairs. I scribble a note and flick the lights off. The note for Sarah says that to keep him away or distract him if he's ever near. A knock sounds on the door. I gently open the window. At least it's only three floors. If it was four, this would hurt. I check around the area for people while Kiryuu bangs on the door. I jump. My surround energy around my legs and hands and let it absorb the impact.

I run to the Hall, noting that he'll be there a few minuets after I leave. He's smart for someone without a lot of training. I rush in, flip the lights off and rush back out. He'll be in here in two minuets. Man, he's running like hell. Guess he caught on that I'd come back when he was distracted. I bolt for the woods again and round about the whole campus. I stop in the stables. Not bad, he's still in the general direction I went. Jumping into the stall of the black stallion, I crouch in a corner and create a thin vale of energy.

He comes in and comes to a walk. He looks at each stall, ducking down a bit as he goes by. He looks directly at me and keeps walking. He didn't notice me. There was no recognition on his face. That doesn't mean I can leave any time soon. He walks out and lingers around for a bit. After about two hours of not moving, he leaves. By the way, I can't feel my legs. I wait until he's off campus to where, I guess, he lives to get up. My legs pop as I hold on to the wall as the blood rushes down.

"Thanks big guy," I say, patting the horse and jumping out of the stall.

If this guy wants to play chase mixed with hide and seek, he better find someone else to play with. He'll never find me and I can always out run him. I smirk as I head back towards the dorms. This may be a little entertaining.


	7. Chapter 7

Sat. back after a very long break and ready to work! I know that I've neglected this for a while but I needed the break. Happy New Years! …A very late one any way. I'm so happy that I'm getting more reviews! They are my life support, so keep 'em coming unless you don't like me and want me to virtually die. I understand that not everyone likes me, so I'll come back and haunt those bitches! So, let's see how things will play out for Zero and all the other vampires today. I own nothing familiar, which is sad.

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Rena

Chapter seven: Life and…love?

How'd things get this complicated? Maybe someone should write a how-to book on keeping secrets and what will happen to them if one goes to high school with them. First thing to know: someone will find out eventually. Guess the "eventually" found us. When Kaitlin and I got back to our room Saturday, Angelica came in with a very worried look. Kiryuu knows about our ultimate ability, or at least has witnessed it somewhat. I went to ask Ana how he found out and she passes the message through Angelica. She's really upset to not physically say it.

Apparently, he doesn't know that we know that he knows about our ability and we are to keep it that way until further notice. Yes, confusing but I can't think of another way to put it other than major trouble. Today was a long day for everyone, but Mondays are supposed to be, aren't they?

The stars are bright tonight. There isn't that many clouds so the sky is pretty bright, even without a moon. I could get into trouble for this. I'm in a tee and faded blue sweatpants in a tree right now. It's around, um, eleven? I don't have a watch on me at the moment, so I'm taking a guess. Funny thing is I've already seen a few Day Class students trying to be sneaky and get some pictures of the Night Class. That's not at all creepy.

Back to the thought that dragged me out here. Kiryuu has been pestering us a lot since that day. Because he asks questions in indirect ways, for obvious reasons, he can never get straight answers out of us. That's my hypothesis: ask a crooked question, get a crooked answer. Kiryuu is persistent and curious mixed with some stupidity. That's a good mixture for trouble for him and us.

The longer we beat around the direct questions, the more agitated and impatient he'll become. We need to find a permanent excuse instead of Ana running when he get's close to us. If he tells Cross, Cross'll tell the Night Class one way or another. Or, Kiryuu could go directly to Kuran for some reason. Both must be avoided. Especially since the girls and I are trying to find a way to get Kuran to agree to another one-on-one fight with Ana for the information. All that guy knows about us is that we can shift energy. Ana met him before our other abilities were either discovered or developed.

None of us have really thought about it, but with Kiryuu knowing what we can do to some extent, the thought of another fight is much more plausible now. Ideas for another fight have been pushed to near top priority. We may not get another chance at Kuran and the documents he has. It took so long to run into him even though meeting him here was a fluke. Those don't happen very often for us. We've been thinking in our on specialized prospective to come up with the best way of getting the documents and getting out without too many casualties on both sides. I'm a bit stumped.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Shouldn't you be in class?" I respond, looking down at Kain.

"We could turn each other in," he calmly suggests as he leans against the tree I'm in.

"Now, where is your sense of peer protection?" I ask with a small smile.

"Who knows?" he says, shrugging his shoulders.

"I have been out here too long anyway," I say, jumping down, "There are a lot of Day Class students trying to stalk you and the other Night Class students tonight. We both should go back."

"Why are you out here?"

"Thinking. I can't do it very well while lying in bed. Makes me tired," I respond with a small laugh.

"You're defeating the purpose of the bed, then."

"No, the bed is defeating the purpose of my train of thought. Why are you cutting? If you don't mind me asking."

He shrugs again. I shake my head a bit and head back to the dorms.

"Can you tell me more about what you are?"

I turn to look at the tall redhead. He's still leaning against the tree, looking up at the sky instead of me. Why would he ask this? Is it for his curiosity or for Kuran to learn more things about us? I shouldn't answer him either way. Enough restricted knowledge has been let loose for one month, if not a bit more than need be.

"No, I can't. Sorry."

"Why not?"

"Safety purposes, for both of us, actually."

He looks at me with bright orange eyes, sizing me up. I hope that's it, even if he is gorgeous. He has a pretty high number of Life Points, but that's normal for a Level B. It's odd how I see the points. The person I look at has a bright gold light around them and above their head is a little meter. The hue is mixed with a different color or two for each person and his gold is mixed with red. When someone gets close to death, the light aura around them begins to change from healthy gold to a faded out red. When they die, well I don't see their L.P. or the aura.

"You might want to leave," he says, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Prefects?"

"Yuuki."

"Yeah, definitely time to leave. Thanks for the heads up. Night," I say with a wave and head back to my room.

I gently open the door to my dorm room and silently tiptoe to my bed. As soon as I lay down a thought hits me. Why did he give me a heads up about Yuuki coming? I just said that I wouldn't tell him anything, but he still gave me a warning. Oh well, another anomaly to worry about later. Right now, sleep sounds really good.

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"Alright everyone, good job today!" I say to my group, "Go get some food and do some homework. I know Kaze is giving out a lot more homework since we've started the club up. I say it's a conspiracy."

Some laugh and nod in agreement. If there is one thing all students in the Day Class have in common, it's hating Kaze.

"Thanks, Rena!" Asi says with a big grin.

"No problem," I say back to him, "Go get changed. See you tomorrow."

The tall brunette boy walks to the changing room, waving at me all the while. I sheepishly wave back. This guy is trying too hard. He's been doing this since the club started. It's beginning to get annoying. He's a nice guy but he can't take a hint. With a sigh, I begin to put the blue mats up in our office area. We originally found them in a closet in the office, and it's there they shall stay.

"He likes you," Kaitlin says behind me in English.

"Yeah, I know," I respond and take her mat, "He's getting troublesome."

"What are you going to do if he asks you out or something?"

"Tell him that I have no interest in him. Which is true."

"Besides the fact that he's human?"

"That adds to the reasons of not dating him, but yeah."

"And what are you two chattering about back here?" Angelica asks from the doorway.

"Rena's non-existent relationship problems," Kaitlin answers, leaving the office to get another mat.

"It's one of the students that I have in my advance group," I explain, taking her mat, "He's been flirting non-stop since the club started. Guy can't take a hint to save his life."

"Literally or metaphorically?" she asks with a quirked eyebrow.

"Take your pick," I answer with a shrug.

"Well, let's hurry up here," she says, walking out, "I'm hungry."

I follow her out and say good-bye to a few people who wave. How am I going to get this guy off my back? I treat him the same as I do everyone else, except my girls. Naturally, I'm more open with them since I've been with them since I was seven. I grab the CD case and choose an unlabeled mixed one, popping it into the boom box. Most of the CDs are burned and unlabeled. It's more interesting this way. Walking in the middle of the room, I stretch my right arm out a bit. I slept on it wrong. The nightmare I had also didn't help, even if it wasn't mine. I don't know whose it was, but it wasn't anything involving the girls and myself. It had evil clowns with chainsaws. Kaitlin joins me in the middle of the room as she watches the other students leave.

"Um, Rena?" someone asks behind me. I turn to face Asi.

"Yes?"

"Would you…um… mind helping me…with my math homework tonight?" he asks, looking at the ground and blushing, "I can't really understand some of the problems."

"I'm sorry, Asi-san, but I'm getting help from Kaitlin with Kaze's homework," I reply with a small smile, "Why don't you ask Nobi? She's really good at algebra."

That and she likes you! C'mon, man! She's more obvious than you are.

"Oh, um sorry!" he says with a broken smile and laugh, "I should have asked you at lunch instead of now. This is shorter notice."

"It's just…" I say sheepishly, "bad timing."

"Well, have a good night," he says, with that same broken smile.

"You too."

Once he walks out of the Fight Hall, I face palm and mutter a curse in English.

"Wow, could you have made that last excuse sound more like a question or what?" Kaitlin mutters next to me, "And using one of Sarah's excuses?"

"Shut up," I mutter back, "I'm running out of excuses. Besides, I do need help with Kage's homework."

"Obviously, since you're using Sarah's excuses for life."

"Gee, thanks!" Sarah yells from the office.

"What are you going to do about tomorrow, then?" the short brunette asks.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Whaddya mean, whaddya mean? Don't you know what tomorrow is?"

"Um, is tomorrow, tomorrow?"

"Valentine's Day," Ana says, walking by us.

So? It's Valentine's Day. I already got stuff for the girls. Wait…Valentine's Day?!

"Holy crap!" I yell, grabbing the sides of my head.

"Ooh, let the show begin!" Kaitlin says with a huge grin.

"Aido," Ana says behind Kaitlin, "don't forget him."

Suddenly, my friend's face falters with dread and horror. Heh, sucker. This will be good. My…drama won't be as bad as hers will be with Aido. I can't wait to see what he's going to do to our little Kaitlin. But, life really bites right now.

"Guess I get to see a show too," I say with a grin.

"As much as I love seeing any of you embarrassed," Ana starts with a small smile, "We have important business to discuss. We will not be sparing tonight."

"Take all my fun away," Angelica says from the office. She and Sarah walk out of that space.

We all take a seat on the floor in a circle. This is the most discreet place to have short meetings like this and we are here legally. If someone walks in, we can easily make up a lie as to what we are doing. We are conducting business of sorts, just not directly related to the club.

"So," Ana starts, linking her fingers together on her lap, "There have been no Hunters sighted in the area. The farthest I was able to look was ten miles using the computer and news data I hacked into. This isn't completely trustworthy since fake identifications and paper could be made up at any time. This weekend, we need to split up. Two of us will physically go out this weekend and look for any traces of Hunters while the other three will take a closer look into the local town. Funnily enough, there are a few Level Es hanging around there, which could attract one or two Hunters. We can work out the details on the reconnaissance later."

"Well," Sarah starts out, "I've talked with Takuma yesterday about arranging a private meeting just between Ana and Kuran. He said that it would most likely not be possible, but that he would put it past Kuran. All we can do is wait until we get an answer back from someone on that side of the school. I'm planning on going to the library after this to meet Takuma again. If we get a green light on this proposition, we'll have to set up a location, time, and date. Just to add in a hypothetical comment, I recommend off-campus."

"You two becoming cozy?" Angelica asks with a large grin.

"Shuddap," she mutters back, turning red.

"Kaitlin and I have been working out the possible outcomes of engaging Kuran's guard," I say, bring the attention back to the meeting, "Aido and Kain might be a problem. Takuma and that girl with a lot of hair that's always around Kuran could easily be distracted by only one of us since Kaitlin says that they have no extra abilities. However, we don't really know about that quiet girl with the short purple hair. She has a large amount of L.P., which is odd for her level. If we do have to break our agreement with Cross, I'd say our forces will be stretched."

"That's an understatement;" Kaitlin jumps in, "What can be inferred about this possible situation is that it won't be a good one for us. Sure, we can get past his defense and to him to an extent, but we know the size of the Night Class and every single one of them in that coven is devoted to Kuran. Getting past the guards will be the easy part. Getting past a huge hoard without causing deaths of vampires is another thing entirely. That will draw way too much attention to us and alert the Hunters, plus we'll have even more prestigious vampire families after our heads. The best option we have is a one-on-one instead of a full frontal attack, if it comes to that."

Silence lingers among us as we take in this possible issue.

"There is…another option," Angelica says at a length, "We could find out where he's keeping the documents, take them and bail."

"How's that?" Sarah asks.

"I've been trying to think of a scenario where I can read into Kuran's mind for a moment or two," she begins to explain, "But there are some major flaws. For one thing, to find very specific information like that might take a little bit of time. Another is that Kuran won't let me come into physical contact with him for that long and he'll know that I would be invading his mind. Even accidental bumping won't be enough contact. Before we try some sort of attack, two of us could break into the Moon Dorms and restrain him long enough to find the information in his mind and the files."

"That is a distinct possible plan," Ana says in a low, thoughtful voice, "But we can use it as a fallback. Kaitlin is right about the fighting. We should avoid getting the whole coven involved. Even we'll be overwhelmed by their numbers since we don't want to kill any of them. If it comes down to just an all out brawl with the coven, we'll do our best to get the information and run with little fatalities. The documents are important, but I don't want to have any fatalities on our side. The most is two wounded badly. No more."

"Is that all we need to talk about with the Night Class issue?" Angelica asks. Ana nods in response.

"Let's do the recon details then," Kaitlin suggests.

"Wish I could, but I can't," Ana says, getting up, "Kiryuu is almost here and I gotta bail. You guys can do this and fill me in later."

"Ana, you can't keep doing this," Sarah says with a frown, "This running around is not going to solve his questioning."

"I know," she sighs out, "But he saw the energy aura form. The only other way of scaring him out is letting him see it in action to an extent. But that will most likely make him more curious."

"We'll think of a solution later," Kaitlin says, "Get goin'."

"I'll be in the nurse's office getting another first-aid kit," she says, walking to the changing rooms, "Hani used the last of it up tonight."

Ah, Hani. Sweet girl, really. Very thoughtful and cute. The only problem is that she's accident prone and I mean bad. She told Angelica, who is her group leader that she joined the club to try and become more coordinated and graceful. She has gotten better. We can make the first-aid kit last a whole week. That's a new record for her.

"Ya know," Sarah says, once Ana leaves, "I think the nurse might start charging us for the first-aid kits that we take. Maybe we should do something nice for her?"

"Oh, what about a thank-you card from the whole club and a box of chocolates from the local sweet store?" I offer, "I think she'll like that."

"That's not a bad idea, Rena," Angelica says with a smile, "We could get that this weekend."

The door opens behind me and I turn to see Kiryuu walk in with that same ticked off look. He also seems to be tired… more than usual. Ana must really be giving him the run-around.

"Can we help you?" Sarah asks, getting up.

"You're supposed to be at the gate with Yuuki," Kaitlin interrupts with an annoyed voice, "You're throwing her to the fan girl and fan boy wolves."

"Where is Rose?" he demands, giving us a heated glare.

"At the library, looking for a book to read," Angelica says, standing as well. She comes to near height with him.

"Don't lie to me," Kiryuu snarls, "I'm not in the mood for it."

"Kiryuu," I say, "Even if we do tell you, she'll be long gone by the time you get there."

"It's getting late, prefect," Sarah says, "Get to your post."

He seems a little taken back by the stone voice Sarah used. She doesn't pull it very often, but when she does it's just smarter to obey what she says and run for it. She flares energy out a bit, letting her aura lick around his and provokes ours.

"Kiryuu," I gently say, "For you health, I suggest you leave our Fight Hall and leave us alone from now on."

He glances at me and turns on his heel. The door slams hard, shaking the windows. He's mad and he's not going to stop pestering us. The angrier he gets, the uglier the confrontation will be and I know there will eventually be one. I shake my head and get up.

"C'mon, girls," I say, "Let's head back to the dorms before all hell at the Moon Dorm begins."

We all gather up our stuff and head out the door. Kaitlin locks it with the second key. This'll go to Angelica next week. We rotate the extra key because we each have times to come in here to do some clean up. Angelica and Sarah will be doing it next weekend. We get to that hill in front of the Moon Dorm just in time to see it open and for our ears to bleed from the screams. Do they really have to do this every damn day? I wonder how Yuuki can stay patient with them. Two weeks and I would have killed every last one of 'em. If Kiryuu has regular bullets, a few rounds would have gone off a long time ago.

Hearing and seeing their stupid antics reminds me that tomorrow is V-Day. God, how am I gonna get out of that?! We're still holding practice tomorrow, so I can't avoid Asi. I guess I'll just have to muddle through it. But I won't suffer alone. I can't wait to see what Aido will do to Kaitlin.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV(V-Day)VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Screams and yells fill my ears. I crack my eyes open to the just risen sun. Kaitlin raises her head a bit, turns to look out the window and falls back with a grunt. Normally these sounds would put me on high alert, but since coming to this school I've distinguished between distress and stupidity. These sounds are stupidity.

"It's too damn early for this!" my friend yells from her pillow.

I get up, unwillingly from my warm bed and look at the hoard of students. Yuuki's whistle blows. Poor thing must be trying so hard to keep them from the walls. One would figure that all of these people would have enough dignity to not try and climb over walls like obsessed creatures, especially in skirts. The only problem with that is that they are very obsessed. Obsessed with people that are vampires and these admirers don't even know it. I shake my head and snuggly back down in my bed for the next thirty minutes or so. There's no way I can go back to sleep with that noise. If I was down there, I'd kill 'em all.

After lying in bed, both of us get up and get ready for school. I pack my school work while Kaitlin takes a quick shower. I, on the other hand, just get dressed. Knocking on the bathroom door, I give her a warning that I was leaving and that she had ten minuets to get to class on time. I get to my first class and after a few minuets; other students come filing in complaining about mean prefects. Kiryuu must have gotten there to help Yuuki out. The class settles down as the teacher walks in and we begin our class.

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Well, I can't really complain about today. No one really gave me anything, except the girls. I should say that Sarah gave me a National Single Awareness Day card and some candy. She got some cards and crossed out Valentine on them and put that on instead. Ever the silly Sarah. I gave the girls some candy that they all like. Kaitlin and Sarah both got some cream filled chocolate and Ana and Angelica both like marshmallow stuff, so I got them some marshmallow hearts. I got all sorts of candy from them since I eat any kind, especially sour stuff.

We walked by the gates earlier, just to see what happens at this school. All of those people were lined up in gates like racehorses all in a row to give their stuff to the Night Class. It was kinda scary really. Kaitlin paused for a moment before walking quickly ahead of us. Right now, not everyone is here for the meeting today.

We decided that the students could be about fifteen minutes late since we know how big this holiday is here. More than of the half the members are missing right now and they only have five minutes to get without major consequence. Angelica and Kaitlin have been sparing for the last ten minutes or so. Sarah and Ana are doing something in the office dealing with school work since Ana didn't finish her homework for Kaze. Running from Kiryuu can keep a girl busy.

With lack of things to do, I practice my basic sequences of fighting. I wish we could do weapons training in here. I feel rusty with Medusa's Tongue. I'm used to training at least once a day with a weapon, then with hand-to-hand, and then with energy shifting. I found time to do all of this when we were still on the run. There is only time for shifting and hand-to-hand, but not so much for weapons here. My limbs go through the automatic motions I've known since I was five. Asi hasn't shown up yet. Maybe he won't give anything to me at all! Yes, that must be it. He went to go give V-Day stuff to some Night Class student, which explains why he is late.

"Alright, everyone," Ana says, coming out of the office, "We're going to start with or without the others. Break up into groups, please and do it quickly. We're still going to end on time."

I went over to my usually area and see only three students. They all look at me for instructions. Heaving a sigh, I crack my hands a bit.

"We're going to continue with kickboxing. Pair up. One of you three will have to have me as a partner," I say looking at the three guys.

Kaito nearly runs into Soto, asking him to be his partner. Kaito was a demonstration dummy for a couple moves one day, since he wouldn't listen to me and he was making certain comments about me and my friends. He's learned. Rei is my partner I guess. Suddenly, the door slams opened and five students stumble in huffing for air. They're still in trouble. Ana is the head of this thing and she hates starting anything late. One of these people is Asi.

"So, you five have warmed up," Ana says, walking in front of them, "Get changed and do laps until I say stop. No cutting corners."

They all look aghast at her, but she glares. They walk to their respective changing rooms, either with whimpers or grumbles. I shake my head, and continue with my group. After about twenty minuets in the meeting, Ana tells the five students to stop and join their groups. No other students show up.

"Asi, when you've caught your breath," I say the tired teen, "You'll be partnered with Rei."

The rest of the time goes smoothly, but Asi seems to a little nervous. Let's see how this will go. Everyone is dismissed and a few wish me a happy V-Day. I smile and wave at them before they leave. I'll have some time to mess with my weapon today. I brought it with me in my gym bag. Sarah has her daggers as well, so we can do some target practice. It's odd that my weapon can basically kill anything. Everything it's made of has a purpose. The chain can burn lymphs, nasty little buggers and a few other water based creatures. The metal is made of a compound harmful to nearly every mythical creature. It's killed or done some damage to the ones we've encountered. That also means that I don't need encryptions for vampires on the blade. The handle of the sickle is metallic and wood, made to burn fire, wind, and air based creatures.

"U-um, Rena-san," Asi says behind me. I turn to look at a very shaky brunette boy.

"Yes?"

"Would y-you please a-accept this?" he asks, presenting a small white box with a red ribbon. Oh, no. A white decorated red or vice versa is basically asking someone to go out with them in Japan.* I guess I'm going to have to say this to his face, even if I really don't want to.

"Asi-san," I start, "I need yo—"

Suddenly, the door swings open and I hear, of all people Aido calling for Kaitlin. Huh, a bad night for everyone I guess. He walks in and heads straight for Kait with Kain trailing behind.

"What do you want?" Kaitlin nearly spits at him.

"Why Kaitlin-chan," he says innocently, "My cousin and I just wanted to wish you and your friends a happy Valentine's Day."

Cousin? I look between both of them. Well, I guess I can see it in the hair style but that's it. Good thing only Asi is left here. I better finish this before I have to restrain Kaitlin.

"Asi-san, listen," I say, grabbing his attention, "You're a really kind guy and thoughtful, but I'm not looking for a relationship and I don't plan to have one for a while."

He looks down, nearly letting go of the gift. I see Kain look at us in the corner of my eye. Why is he glaring at Asi?

"But I can tell you one thing," I hurriedly say, "Nobi really likes you and I mean a lot. Why don't you try giving this to her. I'm sure you'd make her incredibly happy."

I place my hand lightly on his shoulder. He looks up and I smile brightly and encouragingly. I think Sarah is helping the emotional atmosphere. He nods and walks out of the Hall, albeit slowly. A sigh heaves from my lungs. I'll have to give Sarah some extra candy or something for the help.

"Would you leave already!" Kaitlin yells at the blonde vampire.

"Not until I give you my gift," he calmly responds with a smile.

"I'm not taking a damn thing from you," she growls at him, "Now leave. You're not welcomed here."

"Always using authority you don't have," he mummers in a dark and playful tone.

Oh man, that might set her off. I run between them and put on a nervous smile.

"Now, now," I shakily say, "As much as I love to watch a fight, we don't need one on campus or at all. Aido, it might be best that you and Kain leave."

He gives me a blank look before smiling again. "Just like a wild animal afraid of something new," he says, placing a small and tall box on the floor in front of me.

"Who the hell you callin' a wild animal?!" my friend bellows behind me at the two walking away.

"The one who gets that damn offended," I say to her, "You're really losing your cool with him. Good Lord, get a room!"

"You're supposed to be helpful!" she screeches at me, turning red.

"I'm being helpful," I growl back, losing some of my own patients, "Be slightly nicer for once and he won't get under your skin as much."

"You may as well see what he gave you, Kaitlin," Angelica says behind her.

"By the way, Rena," Sarah says with a cat-like grin, "Kain was really jealous of Asi trying to give you a present."

"Sarah," I respond, "I think you're broken."

I bend down and pick up the dark red box with lighter red ribbon. It's very light, but the box feels cold. Weird. Handing her the box, I take the small card off before Kaitlin could grab it. Yeah, I'm gonna read this out loud.

"'To the fiery gunslinger of the Day Class. Here is a little something to cool you down. Aido,'" I read the elegant handwriting out loud as Kaitlin turns redder.

"He's asking for it," she mutters darkly.

"Open it!" Sarah commands with excitement.

Our little brunette shoots the taller brunette a glare and slowly undoes the ribbon. She slides the lid off. The lid reaches all the way to the bottom of the box, so sliding it off took a while. Set in the tall box is a small white velvet box is near the same height as the outer box. She removes the top to this and eases a glass case with an ice rose on a base sculpted in fire. A note falls from the bottom of the glass. She picks it up and reads it to herself. Slowly, Kaitlin sits on the floor with an astonished and wide eyed look.

Ana picks up the note and reads, "'This will never melt.'"

"Wow," I mummer, near a whisper.

Everyone else must be thinking the same thing. Just, wow. None of have really gotten anything like that. Not that I'm aware of, anyway. It really does look like a rose on a fiery pedestal. It looks real! Kaitlin gently sets the gift on the floor in front of her as she tries to process what just happened. I walk over and place the item back into the white velvet box…wait, white? White and red wrapped gifts mean…oh my God. Kaitlin just got tricked. After placing the gift safely away and putting it behind me I kneel to look at my unwitting friend.

"Kaitlin," I say in a low voice, "He just tricked you into being his girlfriend."

"What?" she asks, blinking out of her daze.

"Aido gave you a V-Day gift with red and white décor," I explain slowly, "He tricked you, sweetheart."

"He…!" she says with a surprised look, "He did _what_?!"

She jumps up and runs out the door, no doubt after the trickster of a vampire. Oh, I'm gonna have a headache tonight. Ana sighs and says she'll go after her to make sure nothing will be started. I shake my head and take Ana's key to lock up. Sarah grabs Ana's stuff. Sarah and Angelica leave back to the dorms while I gather up my stuff and Kaitlin's gift. Locking the door, I nearly run into a chest of white. I back into the door and look up at Kain.

"You're good at the sneaking up thing," I dryly comment.

"Sorry," he says, "I'm here for a reason, though."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Aido wants to know if she opened his gift."

"Yeah," I say with a laugh, "After she realized what the packaging meant, she ran after him and Ana too. He really knows how to play with fire, doesn't he?"

"That's just how he is," the redhead says with a shrug, "Very stupid at times."

"Well, I can't guarantee that he'll come back without any bruises. I'll see you later," I say, trying to walk around him.

"I didn't just come here for my cousin," he says, getting in my way, "It's still Valentine's."

Did he just…?!

"What are you implying?" I ask with narrowed eyes.

He smiles slightly and hands me a small red box. I hesitantly take it, glancing between the item and the giver. I scrunch my eyes at the box, nearly trying to see what's in it. This is so strange. I don't really know what to say or do when other people give me gifts. I feel two chilled fingers slide under my chin and lift my head up to his orange gaze.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Rena."

He walks away after that, not waiting for a response. Good, 'cause I sure as hell can't give him one at the moment. My heart nearly stops beating and as soon as he's out of my sight, it jumps like a racehorse. No doubt he can hear it and is taking satisfaction in it. Did…did this really happen? Did I just get a V-Day gift from someone else other than the girls and accept it? In my confused daze, I stumble back to the dorms and barely get the room key in the lock. After gently placing Kaitlin's gift on her bed, I sit down with my box.

Would Kain be as sneaky as Aido? No, he strikes me as the type to just come out with the question. I lift the little lid off and come face to face with a silver necklace. It's very thin and has a silver circle swirled with a small dark blue jewel in the middle of it. The charm hangs off the chain. Oh, whoa. I can't… I can't take this! It's too expensive and I didn't even get anything for him! A white sheaf of paper sticks out from the side of the box. I pull it out and read what it says.

_Please keep it and wear it._

What do I do?

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a/n: it would happen eventually that i'd get down here. the star means that i dont know if this is a real custom or not. i just put it in to fit with my story line.


	8. Chapter 8

Sat. back and with more ideas! To one reviewer, you know who you are; I thank you for bringing up the issue of Sarah. For a reward, since I can't give you a cookie, I will put in something dealing with her and her… ahem guy friend. I noticed that I misspelled Zero's last name, but I'm not going to change it because that's how I know how to spell it now. Soon, things will get a bit… bloodier. I'm not going to say much else because I'm evil and it's fun to be evil. Hey, twenty-two pages! Woot! This is payment for a late-ish chapter and for my internet hiccupping on me. I own nothing familiar. I wish I did…I want Zero…oh well. Oooh! I found a cookie! On wards!

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Angelica

Chapter eight: The insider's look

Sometimes, it's far too easy to read people. They take the fun out of guessing and investigating. On the other hand, there are people who can't be read at all. These few people create a type of irritable craving about them. I have to know. I have only encountered a few people who stir this nosy craving up. They are Ana, Kaitlin and now Kuran. I would most likely be on that list too, if someone with my abilities met and talked to me.

When I first met Ana and Kaitlin, I was constantly dipping into their minds to see what they thought about something. At times, I still have to. They would never tell someone what they thought or they couldn't find the words to do so. Ana was much worse about this than Kaitlin. However when we were little, these two told me that I was being unfair. I was just as hard to read as they were and they couldn't mind dip like I could to them. I told them tough luck. Sometimes, I still tell them that. It's been two days since Valentine's Day, but some people are still giddy over it. Kaitlin's still mad about it. Something also seemed to happen to Rena, but she's not saying anything. Maybe she's in shock or something?

Ana and Kaitlin came back to the dorms that night and neither said what happened with Aido other than no fight broke out. We were all waiting in Rena's and Kaitlin's room for them. I asked what happened and Kaitlin sulked to the bathroom and Ana heaved a sigh. I was asked not to mind dip in either of them for this information. It seems something huge happened. Oh well, I'll know soon enough.

My attention turns back to the people talking and walking around the lunchroom. I'm not listening to the conversation the girls are in. I'm just watching other people. For some reason, my perceptive qualities are enhanced by my extra ability, so I can read all of these people like I'm looking at their minds. That one guy with brown hair at the end of the lunch table, on the other side of the room is wondering if the girl next to him likes him or not. His friend with black hair sitting across from him is wondering if he can steal the girl before a relationship blooms between the brown haired boy and the girl.

Another girl with her math book opened is trying to study while debating whether or not to cheat. I say cheat if you can get away with it. Who ever said I was a good role model? I grin a little at that thought. Me, a role model. Yeah, and I'm also a pacifist. How much time do we have left for lunch? The clock says about ten minutes. I get up and cross the room to throw away the trash on my tray and turn it in. Some people still drag their eyes on me, thinking I don't know they're watching. I know what they're thinking: Wow, a black girl in Japan. I get a kick out of this. Sitting back down, I decide to pay attention to the conversation.

"I think we should cancel the meeting for Mardi Gras," Kaitlin says, sipping her milk, "We could hold a party in the Hall instead. It'll be educational and fun."

"Where would we get Mardi Gras stuff here in Japan?" Sarah asks with sarcasm.

"Not in town," I say, "We'd have to get purple, gold, and green stuff and make them ourselves."

"Dunno, Kait," Rena says with a sad voice, "We may have to drop the idea of Mardi Gras in school. We wouldn't even be able to get beads, a king's cake, masks, or anything."

"Damn," the shorted hair girl mutters, "and here I thought we could pull something like that off."

"We're in the wrong country for that," Ana says, "and the only military instillation around here is a good day's trip from the school."

We created fake I.D. cards to get onto military bases when we are close to a base or post. Hey, tax free stuff man! I'd go for that.

"Sorry, Kaitlin," I say with a small grin, "Looks like we'll not have Mardi Gras this year either."

"Can't blame me for trying," she says, shrugging.

"Well, time to go to class," Rena says, getting up as other students leisurely leave the cafeteria.

We disperse to our classes. Sometimes I don't see the point of these classes. The girls and I were taught nearly everything in school at a much younger age. Hell, we could teach these classes if we wanted. This is confusing, still to this day: Why did the Hunters educate us so well when they knew the possibilities of betrayal and rebellion? I knew our teachers were worried about it. Even some of the higher ups were worried about it too.

Didn't they think that ignorance is not only bliss, but easily manipulated? Did they just take a leap of faith with brainwashing at an early age? Even when I was younger I knew right from wrong and most of the ideas the Hunters had were very wrong. At the time, it didn't stop me. It was really Ana that was almost their perfect weapon. None of us know the whole details between Kuran and Ana, but it was after that assignment that she planned how to leave the Hunters. She never could seem to get out what happened when the topic is brought up.

Classes go by quickly, since I'm just doodling over my notebook. Sometimes, the teacher asks to see my notebook and is surprised to find all the notes copied in it. He is even more surprised that I do well on all my work and tests. In fact, all of my teachers try to catch me doing something bad. Suppose that's what they're paid for. Classes let out and I hang around in the classroom 'til the rush dies a bit. I head to my room to pick up and gym bag and slip Hermes' Howl into the bottom of the bag from my jacket pocket. I leisurely wander to the Hall.

Yesterday, Ana and I went to Cross to ask him if we could train with our weapons someplace without getting into trouble. Apparently, there is a shooting range somewhere in the school that is strictly for Kiryuu's use only. We are allowed to use the range as long as Kiryuu was there as well. This means that Kaitlin and I are going to the range after the meeting! Yes! We can't use our weapons in front of Kiryuu, but I bring Hermes everywhere. Old habits die hard and new wounds make you die faster.

I'm pretty sure the only reason the silver haired vampire agreed to our request was to weasel information out of us. I'll take that. After all, guns are loud and I don't have my silencer any more. I lost it in the last run from the Hunters on one of the islands of Japan. It was a custom fit. In fact, all the weapons that we were given to work with were custom made for us. It's amazing that the few enemies that got a hold of Hermes couldn't use him because of the strong kick he gave when fired. Heh and I've been using it before I knew how to read and write. My little wild Hermes. After changing out for the meeting, I come over to where Sarah and Rena are talking.

"So you haven't gotten a word out of her yet?" Sarah asks, stretching her arm.

"No, she doesn't want to say anything," Rena mummers near a whisper.

"And I can't mind dip Ana or Kaitlin to see what happened," I comment and start to stretch out as well. Of course I know what they're talking about. We've been trying for the last two days to figure out what happened.

"Well," Sarah says thoughtfully, "She was sad in a defeated way, but also _really_ embarrassed. You don't think that she said yes to Aido's gift thingy, do you?"

"Why would she?" the blonde asks, "She wouldn't give in that easily, would she?"

"We also don't know what happened to say if she said yes or no," I say to bring this out of speculation, "We just need to wait. Maybe I can try to find something out when we go to the range after the meeting."

"You can't invade her little mind, Angelica," Sarah says with a flat look.

"Please," I say with fake offense, "I _can_ talk to people to figure things out. Mind dipping is just fun."

Soon, students fill in and meet in the usual areas of the Hall. I head off to my group of little fighters. They have improved a good bit. Hani isn't falling down or hitting herself as much as she used to. I place my little students with partners after making them go through all the basic sequences for kick boxing. Ah, they grow up so fast. Luckily for them, my group is an even number so no one has to be paired with me. Since this is the last week for this fighting style, we have a pseudo tournament. I pair up the first round of fights, trying to pair people with equal fighting skills and watch them squirm, err…I mean excel under my instruction.

"Alright everyone," I say in the middle of the ring of students, "This is the last fight for the night. After this, we can go and eat. The last two remaining people are Kojiro and Hani!"

This is really surprising. I mean, Hani isn't really that coordinated and she still falls down a lot outside of the meetings, but she has done really well. She reminds me a bit of Sarah. Sarah has great grace when fighting, but take her outside of that, she'll trip up stairs and hit a wall at the same time. The physics are astounding. Hani timidly comes up to me and Kojiro walks with major confidence. I survey them both, and hope Hani will win. Kojiro deserves a good kick in the head for what he did to this sweet girl the first week here. Making fun of her and such. I say he likes Hani, but he's being a five-year-old about it by hitting her a little too hard and won't ask her out. This'll be interesting.

"Alright, you two," I say with a grin, "You know the rules and don't break any of them. If you break more than three, you automatically lose. Best of luck to both of you."

They give a short bow and take their sides of the mats. The other students are a few steps back from the mats, but are already cheering for who they want to win. I walk off the mat, cross my arms and wait for them to take a stance. The silence thickens.

"Begin!" I yell.

They both begin to move around each other, Kojiro taking a few right stabs. Hani dodges them with wide hazel eyes and continues to move. She has a smart way of fighting. She waits to see what her opponent can do. Kojiro is good at jabbing, but not at hooks or high kicks. After another right jab that misses, she takes a straight aimed kick to his ear. He stumbles from the hit, even if it wasn't hard. I think he's more surprised that she did that. She keeps her distance, still with wide eyes and continues to move. Good girl. He regains his stance and has learned to be wary of her legs while continuing. Smart boy.

He tries to take one more jab which she moves completely out of the way. He keeps going on his momentum and becomes unbalanced. Hani, despite her sweet appearance, takes advantage of this and sends a good, ringing kick into the poor guy. He is slammed down on the mat, somewhat dazed. I count out loud and he doesn't get up. Hani is moving a little and keeping her distance. He's out.

"Hani wins!" I yell to the whole room.

Cheers erupt from my group as I help Kojiro up. I test him by asking him questions and check his sight. He says that he is fine. I laugh and told him he'd need ice for a few days. He congratulates Hani on "handing his ass to him" as he says. She blushes either from the complement or from his crude statement. My guess is both.

"Okay, everyone!" I yell over the chatter of my group, "Change out and head off to your weekend. Good job and very good job, Hani."

Everyone disperses to their changing rooms, a few girls still giggling around Hani and some boys patting Kojiro sympathetically on the shoulder. Looks like Hani got Kojiro's attention now. I smirk at the two retreating teens, and pick up a mat.

"Wow, Hani won?" Sarah asks, taking my mat in the office.

"Yeah," I answer with a laugh, "She did very well for a beginner. She has the instincts of a fighter."

"That's…amazing," she says with surprised eyes.

"She's doing well," I say with a shrug and leave to get my other mats.

After putting all of the mats away and after the students leave, we all sit down in a circle in the middle of the room. This is just to polish the recon details for this weekend. Ana will leave before Kiryuu comes to get Kaitlin and I. That poor snuck has no idea how to catch our little Ana and he probably won't for a while.

"Alright," Ana says, cracking her neck some, "This is what we have. Sarah and I will leave tomorrow bright and early. We each have towns to check in two days in the ten mile radius. Meanwhile, the three left will go into town and check out different parts and find where the Hunters' safe house is here, if one exists. Cell phones will always be on and loud no matter where you are. Sarah and I should return between ten and eleven at night on Sunday. We cannot tell Cross where we are and where we're going. Any questions?"

"What if we do find a safe house in town?" Rena asks.

"Record the location and keep an eye on it," Sarah answers with a shrug, "Not every safe house has our pictures, but keep wary of them."

"What do we tell Kuran if he asks for Ana?" Kaitlin asks.

Takuma told Sarah on Valentine's that Kuran was still contemplating his answer. Apparently, something happened between her and Takuma, but Sarah won't tell us what happened. For the moment, anyway.

"Tell him…" Ana starts, "that we're doing something important to protect ourselves, the school, and them to a certain degree."

"You don't want us to lie directly to him?" I ask with a certain tone. It may not be the smartest thing to do.

"He'll understand," she mummers.

"So," Kaitlin says, bring the attention away from Ana, "We're to follow the normal protocol of run first and fight later and have minimum weapons on us while in town. We'll split up and take parts of the town and make one large and final sweep to overlap our work and find any nooks and crannies that seem possible. We'll make a check list using a map."

"And Ana and I are to have our main weapons on our person," Sarah says, "while hiding them in town."

"Good thing I still have my instrument case," Ana mutters to herself.

"Yet, no instrument," I comment with a grin. She smirks for a moment. We both know what the real instrument is.

"Anything else?" Rena asks. We all remain silent, looking at each other.

"Kiryuu will be here in a minute to pick Kaitlin and Angelica up," Ana says, getting up, "So, I'll see you three on Sunday."

Kaitlin and Rena hug her on each side. She holds their arms closer to her. Once she's disengaged from them, I bump knuckles with her and give her a big grin. She returns with her usual small grin. After she leaves, I sit back down. Kaitlin goes to get her gym bag and Rena takes her seat again.

"This is getting absurd," the blonde mutters, "We really need to think of a way to keep that guy out of our business, period!"

"He's just too curious and hardheaded for his own good," I say with a shrug, "We might not be able to keep him away from our business permanently unless we kill him. And that would upset Cross and Yuuki."

The door opens to reveal said annoyed silver haired vampire. He might have heard some of the conversation. He glares at all of us, no doubt angry that Ana's not here. I give him a malicious grin while gathering up my gym bag. Sarah smirks at the poor guy and heads back to the office.

"Let's go before I change my mind," he growls at Kaitlin and me.

The shorted haired brunette and I exchange looks before following him out of the Hall. We wish the other two girls good night as they start to set up targets. Kiryuu doesn't know what they are doing, but he doesn't question their actions. Smart boy. Now if you'd only leave us alone with certain matters, everything else will be okay. We head back to the main building and towards Cross' office. We continue past that, following the angry teen, into different parts of the school I didn't think existed. This place is pretty big, though. Soon we come to a small indoor range with four stalls. I drop my stuff at the wall the opposite of the stalls. Kiryuu walks over to a medium sized cupboard, unlocks the metal latch and reveals practice guns. Lovely.

He takes a couple of magazines out and heads towards a stall. Kaitlin and I exchange glances and I just shrug. She walks over and pulls our two M-9s along with four magazines. While she checks over the borrowed firearms, I pull out an M-11. This one has more kick than an M-9 and is a bit bulkier. Hearing a chain jingle, I glance at Kiryuu to see him pull a silver gun out of his jacket pocket. He pops the mag out and slides the borrowed one in. The gun has a rose etched on it and says, "The Bloody Rose". Fitting for this school. Their uniforms are covered with rose designs.

On a random note, I do wonder how often that submission sigil is used that's on his neck.

Walking to a stall, I check my firearm and find it in good condition. I load the magazine of regular bullets and look at the paper target. Shots next to me sound and Kiryuu's little paper man has a few new holes in his head. I fire my own gun, uncaring of safety goggles and familiar to the loud noise. Soon, my paper man only has one new hole in his head and I pull out my empty magazine. I hear Kaitlin cock and lock her two weapons. She fires both of them and moves them in a pattern. What is she doing this time? She reels her paper man back after dropping two empty mags on the counter.

"He's ready for a party," she says to me with a silly grin.

Her paper man had a smiley face and a bowtie. I laugh hard at her art work. Kiryuu gets interested and looks at the target. I hear him scoff.

"You're a demented little thing, you know that?" I ask her, while loading a new mag.

She merely grins and says, "Maybe I can scare Ice Boy away if he comes here. It'll take care of my problems with him."

"Are you ever going to tell us what happened between you two that night?" I ask futilely.

"Not until I can get over it," she says, nearly growling.

"You're killing me with suspense," I comment, letting the trigger fly.

She's not going to tell and she's shoved it to the back of her mind. I would know if she was thinking about it. Damn girl's good at shoving away distracting thoughts. This is one very large reason she's so hard to read. She can almost shut her mind off.

We practice for a good hour before Kiryuu says it's time to leave. Out of habit, Kaitlin and I clean the firearms we used before putting them away. This didn't take long since we've had to do it during…time constricted areas during missions. When something get's jammed, you better damn well know how to fix and clean it fast. We begin to follow Kiryuu out, but he stops short of the door. He slowly turns to look at us.

"Neither of you will tell me anything regarding your abilities, you will?"

"Why ask what you already know?" Kaitlin answers with a shrug.

"There's no way for me to convince either of you to tell me?"

"Unless you want to torture us," I say with a cool air and hard grin, "But even that will take a lot of time. Other circumstances haven't risen up for us to tell you anything. We also don't plan on that changing. Give up while you're behind, Kiryuu. We may not know what you're asking of us, but we cannot and will not tell you a damn thing regarding ourselves."

Part of that is a lie. But he doesn't know that we know he saw Ana's aura energy form.

"I figured as much," he mutters, turning towards the door, "But that doesn't mean I'll stop asking questions."

Kaitlin and I sigh together.

"Hardheaded moron," Kaitlin spits in English.

He glances back at her. I'm pretty sure he understood that. We follow him to Cross' office when he tells us that we're on our own. I shake my head at the boy before he leaves to his duty for the night. I don't have a problem with him. In fact, he reminds me of a past and meaner Ana. But he's not her in a few ways. We walk back to the dorms. I say goodnight to Kaitlin and head up towards my own room.

I shut the door and take a quick shower, making sure to not get my hair wet. It'll be hard trying to find a place to perm my hair flat. It can only last a few more weeks at best. I remove Hermes' Howl from my gym bag and unload it.

Cocking and locking it, I hold it to my temple. The cold metal sends comforting waves through my spine. I lean my head into the barrel, letting the metal warm up against my newly cleaned skin. Pulling the trigger and the barrel pops emptily. I disassemble the weapon on my desk; cleaning it slowly to check every piece over. Finding nothing wrong with the mechanisms, I reassemble the weapon, load it, lock it and put the safety on. Gently, it slides under my pillow, to let it sleep for the night. I guess Hermes and I will get a work out for the next two days. Good. I'm getting bored.

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We each found a note slipped under our doors from Ana and Sarah. They wished us luck and for us to be safe. They're so cute. We all act like one big family of sisters. I guess we are in more than one way. After all, I don't think Rena can deny me as a direct blood relation! Pale little thing, she is.

I printed maps off in the library on Thursday of the town and highlighted places in the town after researching the place. The plan is to mark what places were possible and where some good information was heard, if any. The town isn't that large, but we need to be thorough. We get breakfast as soon as the cafeteria opens and head out to town. I take the east side, Kaitlin takes the west and Rena takes the south side. We'll have to take the north side on the way out. The search hours drag on with no calls from either of them. It's around four-thirty.

Traveling down the street, and ignoring the stares, I find a little café called "Blue Star". I check my map, making it look almost like I'm a tourist. What else would a black girl do in Japan? This one is highlighted, so I head inside. The place is scattered with spring colors and a large shooting blue star is one the back wall. It's made out of some sort of metal and has blue and white streams painted behind it. This place is a potential spot? Maybe Sarah and Ana got their brains mixed up.

I look around the pleasant little place and take a seat in the back near the star. This place better have something here. I've checked more than half of the map so far and I've only got three more marked places. Deciding to order some coffee and a cookie, I take in who is here. Mostly young couples and some people from school are here. I don't recognize them, which means they only know me as the one of the new girls in school. Good. It makes things easier. After forty-five minutes my patients begins to thin. I'm 'bout to just get up and go to the next place. The door opens and I stop my motion to get up.

Tall guy, dark clothes, shifting eyes, hands in pockets. This guy screams, "Look at me! Look at me!" The Hunters really need to train these guys better when entering a place. "Mystery" man walks up to the counter, talking to a worker. Sipping my almost empty cup, I watch him in the corner of my eye. Maybe there is something here. The little worker girl, points to the back hallway, next to my table and he ventures down it with some confidence.

I throw my cup away and head outside slowly and head towards the back of the café. Hey, every place needs a back alley dumpster and that equals silent break-in. The door is locked, but that's to be expected. I glance down the opening of the alley, seeing people continuing with whatever they're doing. With practiced ease, I form my own dark violet energy in my hand, sliding it into the weak lock. My energy forms the right ridges for the lock and I turn it easily. Simple people with simple locks. I silently walk in and lightly snap the door shut. I hear a man talking and a few others murmuring. They seem to be in the same room.

My shoes lightly tap the hard, tiled floor. Damn my shoes for making noise, but they might not hear me. I slip off my shoes and put them in one hand, continuing in socks. I come to an opened door where light is flooding the floor. The hallway is lit, but poorly. Leaning my back next to the entrance, I twist my head and notice a mirror above a dark blue thread couch. Not a bad idea, but useful to me. I thank whoever made me black. It's harder to see someone with darker pigmentation in a dark hallway. There conversation is a bit unimportant, but this is defiantly a meeting place for Hunters.

"Let's move on to the next topic since Andrew decided to arrive," a man says with annoyance.

"I'm sorry I was late," Andrew says, uncaringly.

"Cross Academy," man one says, unfaltering, "What new information is there about the infestation at the school?"

Holy shit, these guys want to clean the Night Class out?! Cross got the okay from both sides when that school was established! Then again, this is to be expected from about half of the higher ups in the Hunters circle.

"The vampire activity is little to none," man two says, "We've kept the usually rounds, but the Guardians that Cross has seem to be doing their jobs."

"Unlike the lot of you," man one growls, "Our mission is to find a reason to shut that place down. Since it's been up, no one can find anything."

"We could try that idea of letting a wild Level E in and have it attack the human students," a woman says, "We could say that the vampires drew it in."

Dirty players.

"We could," man one says thoughtfully, "but we'll have to discuss this a little later. Before I forget, word has come from H.Q. that the five life-force transits are somewhere close in the area. We are to keep a watchful eye for these A Class weapons. They're known to be highly dangerous and very unpredictable. Their photos and what information we have are here. Study them hard. If we find even one, we'll get a major promotion."

Asshole. That's all I need to hear. I slink back down the hall. Once at the door, I slip my shoes back on and exit the little Hunter-hole. Shit, this is worse than I thought. That's it for this recon for the day. We need to regroup and rethink our venturing out for the next day. I pull out my purple phone. Thank God for speed dial.

"Kaitlin," I say with a serious tone, "Get back to school right now and go to your room. I'll meet you there."

"_Why?"_

"Unpromising circumstances have risen against our favor. We'll have to talk to Kuran and Cross as soon as possible."

"_Holy hell! That bad?"_

"Oh yeah. I'm calling Rena."

"_Right. 'Bye."_

I press Rena's button.

_"Hello?"_

"Get back to campus. Kaitlin should be there soon. Go to your room."

_"What's happening?"_

"Nothing immediate, but still bad."

_"'Kay. See you there."_

We're going to have to call Ana and Sarah when we all get back to the campus. I check around me every so often to see if I'm being followed. I wave a few times to some of my group from the club with a small smile. Once I get back on campus and to the dorms, I take the stairs by three, praising my awesome tallness. Entering the room without knocking, I take a seat on Kaitlin's bed. I take out my phone and dial Sarah's number while Rena dials Ana.

_"Hello?"_

"Sarah, I've called a conference for an emergency," I say into the receiver.

_"What's wrong?"_

"I'm putting it on speaker and Ana's on the other line," I answer, putting the phone on speaker. Rena relays the same message on her cell.

_"Alright, Angelica. What's wrong?"_

"The Hunters have a post set up in town, currently at the Blue Star Café," I begin, "They're here to monitor the school. I don't know how long they've been monitoring the activities here, but it sounded like it's been a while. They might even put Level Es on the campus to attack students so they can put Cross out of business here. And to add to the effect, they also received word from their H.Q. that we're in the surrounding areas. This can cause so many fucking problems."

_"Are you serious?!"_

"Dead serious," I flatly say.

"Does this mean we have to let Cross and Kuran in on this information and what we were doing?" Rena asks.

"We would be exposing ourselves to doing secret activities," Kaitlin hurriedly says, "Think of the consequences of that!"

_"Think of what could happen if we don't tell them," _Sarah snaps at her, _"We'll be in more trouble then than now. I say we tell them."_

"We'll need some sort of help if we are attacked here," I mummer thoughtfully, "and it'd be better to have more on our side. This could show so forming trust."

_"It'll still have trust in question though,"_ Ana counters, _"But…we should tell them. You three go ask Cross to call Kuran in at a decent time and tell them this new information and anything else they ask about this."_

"What if they ask where you are?" Kaitlin asks.

Sounds of birds come from Ana's line and some cars from Sarah's.

_"Tell them…shit tell them what we're doing and how far we're from school and why. There's no way to avoid it without being manipulated."_

"…If you say so, Ana," I respond, "I don't like the decision, but you're right. We have set some solid things up here and we don't need anything else to be compromised. Not yet, anyway."

_"Call us after you talk to them," _Sarah says with a worried voice, _"It doesn't matter how late it is for me. Call me whenever."_

_"Me too. I'll talk to you guys later. I don't have good reception here."_

Two dial tones beep and go silent. A sigh breaks through my mouth. Shit, I hate this. Rena gets up, saying that she'll go ask Cross and do her best to explain the situation without giving away too much. Kaitlin hands over her map and Rena's. We sit on the floor, placing them next to each other and go through what we covered. There are four places publicly that we could find. The Blue Star Café, the King's Harold bookstore, the Red Lady bar, and the Queen Restaurant. There are also a few alleys that Rena found on the on the south side. Rena covered her area cleanly, since it was really small. Tomorrow we'll switch places. I'll take the south side, Kaitlin will take the north, and I'll take the east side and Rena will take the west.

We work over the maps for a good hour and a half maybe. My stomach growls against my layered shirts. This is what happens when work gets started; no food. Rena comes back, looking tired and plops on the bed, smothering her face in her pillow. It took awhile, which means that Cross tried to get information out of her. Poor little Rena.

"So?" Kaitlin asks.

"We're to go right after eating," she mutters from her pillow.

"Tried to get information out of you?" I ask in a lighter tone.

"Tried and failed," she says, sitting up, "That man used puppy eyes on me! Puppy eyes! C'mon, really?!"

"Wow," Kaitlin says, next to me, "I can see that happening."

"Let's go get something to eat then," I say, getting up and stretching my arms.

Kaitlin gathers up the maps and folds them up into her pockets. Yeah, we'll probably need these. We head down to the cafeteria to go get dinner. None of us talk as we sit and eat. The dinner rush is in, so we have to wait in line for a while. After sitting down, Rena decides to break the silence.

"D'you think we'll be in trouble for this?" she asks in English.

"It's possible," Kaitlin mummer in her roll, before taking a bit out.

"We shouldn't be in that much trouble," I reassure her, "He won't kick us out for simply being cautious."

"Yeah," Kaitlin says, "But we'll be in trouble for doing activities without notification."

That's true. When we got here and made that "pledge", when we made the club, to protect the school and students, we were also telling him that we'd let him know of our activities. Keeping lies in this situation is very dangerous. Then again, dealing with schools was always dangerous. Not enough privacy. Here, an ex-Hunter is the headmaster and has vampires as students and now E-Shifters. Isn't this place something.

"We're going to tell them because it's the right thing to do," I say, closing the subject.

After eating, we slowly head up to Cross' office. This is going to end badly, isn't? Kaitlin give a brief knock on the door and enters before Cross can say anything. We enter the room. The air certainly feels cold here. Kuran is sitting in one of at Cross' desk. He's in a plain white dress shirt and black slacks. I suppose I'm taking over Ana's spot for the moment. I sit in the seat next to the pureblood. Good think Kiryuu isn't here, nor Yuuki. I nod at Kaitlin and she folds the maps, placing them on the desk.

"Where is Ms. Rose and Ms. Wave, Ms. Smith?" Kuran asks.

"That'll be explained," I say in my own monotone voice, "Let's start with the recon details. Please don't interrupt if you want to hear the full report. When we stay in one place for more than two weeks, we do checks of the surrounding areas for Hunters. This place is no acceptation. We decided not to tell either you, Headmaster or Kuran due to how we were always taught. Less people know, less likely information can leak out. The plan is very simple. Ana and Sarah split up and took a ten mile radius from our location, here. Each is taking half a circle—"

"They have left the school grounds?" Cross asks calmly, but I can tell he's mad.

"And they are to be back Sunday evening," I sharply continue, "After looking into a few places. While they are off looking in near by locations, we went into town and covered different areas to find and record Hunters' meeting spots you see here on these maps. Tomorrow, we are to make a closer combing of the areas we checked and see if we missed anything. Now, the reason we asked both of you here is to relay some…troublesome news. All five of us are in agreement that we should tell you what we were doing when this information was "happened" upon.

"The few Hunters that I found are planning some nasty things. They're trying to find a way to shut the school down and clean out the Night Class. They want to pin all the blame on the Night Class and one ploy might be to let loose a few wild Level Es in here to attack the Day Class students. They've been monitoring the school for an unknown amount of time, but the tone they spoke in suggests a decent amount of time. And if that doesn't tighten the noose, their H.Q. gave them a warning to keep a look out for us. They've been photos of us, albeit old ones, but there are some things that haven't changed on us since we were little."

"So, Ana and Sarah are out as we speak?" Cross asks, linking his fingers.

"They left early this morning," Kaitlin answers.

"Are you sure of what you heard, Ms. Smith?" Kuran politely asks.

"I'm not one to mishear things like this, Kuran," I say to him with a grim grin, "Sometimes, I wish I do."

"Headmaster Cross," Rena says in a low voice, "I wouldn't suggest telling the prefects about this. Kuran, with due respect, I wouldn't suggest telling anyone in your coven, including your second in command. Not until we know something will happen. It's better that we don't show any reaction to what we've heard, lest we draw attention to ourselves."

"I agree with them, Headmaster," the pureblood says, "It would rile tension higher than the normal amount already here."

Wow, he's agreeing with us. Cross rests his chin on top of his linked fingers and stares at his desk. Time lingers for a little, but no one moves. Not yet.

"You do realize what you have just compromised by telling me this, don't you?" Headmaster asks, looking at each of us.

"Yes," Kaitlin says for all of us, "We are ready to accept any consequences of any measure. You have full right to and we understand."

"The only consequence is," he starts, leaning back in his chair, "Is informing me when and where you'll be going in the next two weeks. Full details."

"You're not kicking us out?" Kaitlin asks, breaking her cold composure.

"Of course not," Cross answers with a smile, "Without any of you doing this, we wouldn't have known this new and bothersome information. I should have realized that something like this was to happen somehow. I forgot that you five aren't regular teenagers that have to worry about school. Survival and hiding soundly is the top priority for all of you and you all have a large amount of experience of doing so."

"Thank you, Headmaster," I say with a small smile, "for being so understanding. It's your choice when to tell the prefects of this change of events."

"You are dismissed, ladies," he says with a goofy grin, "Come talk to me after school Monday about what was found over the weekend. I also want Kaname to be here for that, so you're club meeting may be cancelled."

Oh shit. Ana's gonna hate that. Sarah'll have her hands full trying to contain that tense atmosphere. I nod to Cross and say goodnight to both of them. I guess we'll draw straws when we call Ana, 'cause I sure as hell don't want to do it. The next few weeks are going to turn into hell.


	9. Chapter 9

Sat. back with more chapter-y goodness! Whoo! Number nine! That makes me really happy. So does ramen. But this is beside the point. I've heard the desperate cries of my readers and yes, you shall be told of Valentine's Day stuff…in time. Muwahahahaha! Yes, evil, I know. You will, dear readers, get to hear what happened to Kaitlin! One of the most anticipated partially known events! Yes, I don't know why I'm hyper. The website has been acting up the last few days, so this is why the chapter is so late. I own nothing!

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Kaitlin

Chapter nine: Logical or illogical?

It is ridiculous how many students are out here. The little downtown area is swarming with them. It's almost as though little kids don't exist. Perhaps Saturdays are the only really busy days here, but Sundays have that possibility, too. Today has been…trying. I walk down the crowded area, very tired and very annoyed. It seems that I was given the busiest section on the map. I wish I knew that beforehand, but no use trying to change it now.

On a positive side to this crowded fiasco, I have run into some promising places. I have one sure place, the Red Lady Bar. I hung around there for a good hour, fooling the tender that I was older than I really am. He seemed half drunk like his customers. Afterwards, I left and went casually around the back alleyway and found the side entrance. I poked around some in the extra rooms and came across an odd office.

Since I already broke into the back, why not an office? Good thing I did. There was a filing cabinet with some Hunters' information on some of the local Hunters here. Sadly, taking something out of that would cause suspicion and I didn't have Ana here to memorize the information or a camera. I also couldn't read anything because someone was coming down the hallway. That doesn't mean I left empty handed. I know that the office is there. My area is nearly done. I'm just double-checking other places. Suddenly, my cell goes off. That could be good or bad. I flip it opened and see its Angelica.

"_Kaitlin," she says with a serious tone, "Get back to school right now and go to your room. I'll meet you there."_

"Why?"

"_Unpromising circumstances have risen against our favor. We'll have to talk to Kuran and Cross as soon as possible."_

"Holy hell! That bad?"

"_Oh yeah. I'm calling Rena."_

"Right. 'Bye."

Shit. What in the hell happened for her to pull us out almost three hours early? I nearly run back to the campus, checking around me to make sure I'm not being followed. Once I get back onto the campus grounds, I run to the dorms. No one's out here. Taking the steps by two, my key slides in the door and I open it. Seems that I'm the first here. Pretty soon Rena and Angelica show up and the situation is explained. Rena called Sarah and Angelica called Ana during the explanation. Shit. This is worse than I thought. Hunters very close by plus they want to take the school down and they know we're in the area.

We come in agreement to tell Cross and Kuran. Rena goes off to compromise with the Headmaster. During this time, I give Angelica my map and Rena's. She handed it to me before she left. I point out my possible places and tell her of the Red Lady bar and all the files that are stored there. If we need to run, we may be able to ransack that place. Rena returns after a good while with a tired look and plops on her bed.

"So?" I ask.

"We're to go right after eating," she mutters from her pillow.

"Tried to get information out of you?" Angelica asks in a lighter tone.

"Tried and failed," she says, sitting up, "That man used puppy eyes on me! Puppy eyes! C'mon, really?!"

"Wow," I say with raised eyebrows, "I can see that happening."

"Let's go get something to eat then," Angelica says, getting up and stretching my arms.

I gather up the maps and slip them in my jean pockets. No doubt Cross will want to know the locations we've picked out. We head down to a tense dinner. The tension is more from worry. The conversation that we did have was cut short and we head up to the office. Once we get to the door, I beat the other two to knocking. I know neither of them wants to do it. Doesn't mean I wanna. Opening the door before an answer is given; I steel my face and enter. I place the maps on his desk. Angelica takes the chair next to Kuran and begins to explain the situation. I tune some of it out, throwing in some information. Soon, the situation is completely explained.

"Headmaster Cross," Rena says in a low voice, "I wouldn't suggest telling the prefects about this. Kuran, with due respect, I wouldn't suggest telling anyone in your coven, including your second in command. Not until we know something will happen. It's better that we don't show any reaction to what we've heard, lest we draw attention to ourselves."

"I agree with them, Headmaster," the pureblood says, "It would rile tension higher than the normal amount already here."

He agrees with us. Is this monumental? But I do have to remember that Kuran isn't stupid, but is in fact one dangerous tactician.

"You do realize what you have just compromised by telling me this, don't you?" Headmaster asks, looking at each of us.

"Yes," I say for everyone, "We are ready to accept any consequences of any measure. You have full right to and we understand."

Of course he'd be angry at us. We did violate the pact that we created here in a way.

"The only consequence," he starts, leaning back in his chair, "Is informing me when and where you'll be going in the next two weeks. Full details."

"You're not kicking us out?" I ask, nearly flabbergasted.

"Of course not," Cross answers with a smile, "Without any of you doing this, we wouldn't have known this new and bothersome information. I should have realized that something like this was to happen somehow. I forgot that you five aren't regular teenagers that have to worry about school. Survival and hiding soundly is the top priority for all of you and you all have a large amount of experience of doing so."

"Thank you, Headmaster," Angelica says with a small smile, "for being so understanding. It's your choice when to tell the prefects of this change of events."

"You are dismissed, ladies," he says with a goofy grin, "Come talk to me after school Monday about what was found over the weekend. I also want Kaname to be here for that, so you're club meeting may be cancelled."

Oh, Monday will be interesting. We leave the office after I gather the maps. The girls and I decide to talk a little later about the new mission details after we've had a shower and have calmed down a bit. This means we get about an hour to ourselves. Rena and I head back, talking about some of the bookstores and clothes shops we each saw. Hey, we may be on a mission but we still like to shop. We are teenage girls after all.

"I'm gonna take a shower first, okay?" Rena asks as we enter our room, "I had too many back alleys with too much trash everywhere. I feel nasty from all of it."

"Sure," I say and toss myself on my bed, "Don't take too long, though. We've only got an hour."

"'Kay," she says, gathering up some clothes and going into the bathroom.

My mind wanders off to different things, but what happen Valentine's Day was…excruciating. Now that I've stopped doing something to keep my mind busy, I start to think about it. I still haven't figured it all out. I mean, why?! Why did he do something like that?! Why did he seem so sincere?! Why in the hell is my face still turning red from embarrassment right now?! I shove my hands to my heated face and groan. Shit! That night is still plastered in my head like a bad movie you want to block out and ask why you even paid to see it. I still can't believe that he…no, I can believe he was that sneaky. It's the fact that he was serious that I can't believe.

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"_Kaitlin," Rena says in a low voice, "He just tricked you into being his girlfriend."_

"_What?" I ask, trying to understand what she said._

"_Aido gave you a V-day gift with red and white décor," she explains cautiously, "He tricked you, sweetheart."_

"_He…!" I say with a surprised look, "He did what?!"_

_I jump up and run out the door, planning on kicking that snowflake's ass. Where the hell is he?! My mind barely registers the cool air on my slightly sweaty face. Where would he go? I know Ana won't help me. She's only following me to make sure I won't kill the boy. Yeah, I can hear her running after me. She's the only one that can keep up with me when it comes to sprinting. My run begins to slow as I let my eyes take in the forest around me. Where are you, goddamnit? _

_Suddenly, I see a flash of blonde and I know it's not Ana. My feet veer off to the left and I nearly run into the stupid snowball. He looks at me and slowly grins, understanding that I opened his gift. _

_"What in the hell where you thinking giving me that thing?!" I screech at him._

_"You didn't like it?" he asks with a slightly softer look. He almost looked hurt._

_"Err—well, I—that's beside the point!" I snap, futilely try to reason. Hell yeah it was gorgeous, but he doesn't need to know that._

_"Then, Kaitlin-chan, what is the point?" _

_"The point is that you're not supposed to give me stuff unless it's a kick to the gut!"_

_"Rose-san," he says, looking over me, "Would you mind leaving us, please? I would greatly appreciate it."_

_When did Ana get here? Oh wait, she was following me. Right, I knew that. He must be serious if he's addressing her respectfully. _

_"Depends," she lazily says, "Can I trust either of you to not start a fight or for you to drink her blood?"_

_"Tch! Like he'd get the chance!" I snap over my shoulder._

_"You have my word, Rose-san," he says with a slight bow._

_I turn to look at her. She glances back and forth a bit between us. She glares mainly at him. With a shrug, she turns and walks away saying not to be too late._

_"You're abandoning me?!" I yell at her with wide eyes._

_"I'll be in the area, Kait," she says without turning around, "Close enough to sense both of you and hear a scream for help." _

_"That's still leaving me!" She keeps walking. Bitch left me!_

_"Tell me, Kaitlin-chan, why you can't accept gifts?" he asks behind me._

_"Because I'm not allowed to associate with anyone in any manner unless it deals with an assigned task," my mouth automatically says, I as turn to face him._

_"Does Rose-san keep you from accepting anything or from making friends?" he asks sincerely._

_Suddenly, what Ana said before the club started up rings in my head._

"It _is_ high school, guys," Ana growls at us, "Last time I checked, dating in school is a normal thing high schoolers do, despite what goes to this school. Besides, better to go out with something that knows what you are."

_"N-no, but still." Weak excuses! Damnit, I need to think of better ones! _

_"So, what is the problem?" he asks with a soft smile. Don't do that! I can barely come up with good excuses and you're smiling at me like _that_?!_

_"What do you know about me to give that kind of gift?" I ask with ferocity, "and to trick me?!"_

_"I know that I like you," he says, shrugging and coming closer, "And I know that you have a very different personality than most. The fact that you don't idolize over me is…intriguing."_

_"Arrogant asshole, aren't we," I snip._

_"Only when I know I can be one," he says with small grin, "Right now is not a good time to be arrogant."_

_"Like you know how to stop," I say, crossing my arms and turning from him._

_"As you don't know how to stop being so defensive?" he retorts with some humor in his voice._

_"The defensiveness is bred in," I mutter, "It can't be controlled."_

_"That's a shame," he whispers in my ear. _

_I jump and look at him with startled eyes. When the hell did he get so close?! He chuckles at my wide eyed look and I glare. His smile only widens as I fight a blush of embarrassment down. Come on, girl! You're fucking trained to handle anything! Get it together and start acting like the badass you were bred to be! One problem: I never learned how to deal with guys in _this_ way._

"_Mind backin' off?" I ask flatly._

"_Not really," he says, coming a little closer. Some of his cool temperature radiates to my warmer one. "Since I did accentually trick you into opening that gift, I suppose I will ask properly."_

_His cool hands turn me around and I almost have a heart attack. He looks serious…I don't think I have ever seen him serious before. Strange. Wait…ask me what?!_

"_If you ask what I think you're about to ask, I'll kill you," I say in a dangerous voice._

"_I suppose I should prepare for my funeral," he responds with a grin, "Will you go out with me?"_

"_Oh my God, you did _not_ just ask me that!" I say perplexed, unable to hold it back._

_He looks startled that I said that, but laughs a bit too. He's laughing at my outburst? Great. _

"_Then, I suppose you don't have an answer?" he asks, still laughing._

"_There's no question to answer," I coldly say. _

"_Of course there is, Kaitlin," he says smoothly. _

_God, I hate it when he does that. It's not my fault. Lately my teenage hormones have gone rampart and have been whispering corrupting this to me. Such as how his hair is so perfect and his skin and eyes glow and how he says my name differently and…yeah, gonna stop now. He leans down to my face, making me feel shorter than I already am. I don't recoil or flinch out of trained habits and just glare at his glacier blue eyes._

"_You must have some sort of an answer," he prods, nearly whispering. His cool breath glazes over my face and I blush some._

"_Not for you."_

"_Yes, one for me. Will you be my little fiery valentine?"_

"_I'll think about it." _

_Wait, what?! Did I just say _that_?! Holy mother of God! He smiles at me while my eyes widen and I slap a hand over my lips. My own mouth has betrayed me, along with my hormones. Now I know I'm doomed. He leans closer, and I feel him plant his cool lips on my forehead. Shock courses through my veins and I find that I can't move. Punch him! Hit him! For the love of sanity, shank him even! But, no. Instead, you stupid body, you freeze up, blush, and start to let the heart think romantic bullshit._

"_Good evening, Kaitlin-chan," he says, pulling away, "I can't wait for your decision."_

_Just like that, he's gone. Just like that, I said a maybe. Just like that, he kissed me on my forehead. And now, my knees drop to the ground out of weak shock. Doesn't he understand what I entail? I'm wanted all over the world by hunters of inhuman beings and he asks me _this_? That must be it. He doesn't understand just how serious our situation really is. No doubt he's heard and maybe even seen what the Hunters do, but now he wants direct involvement?! We move out of whims and for safety. Having a close connection with someone other than the girls is incredibly dangerous and stupid! _

_I slowly get up and brush my knees off. I'm going to have to say no. I don't know why I said maybe in the first place. When he got that close and that…sweet and sincere, I just couldn't hold my shield against him for very long. I can't understand why and I may not any time soon. I have to say no. Not just for what dignity I have left, but for his safety as well as the girls. He can be used. I don't want anyone used against me. Ever. _

"_How'd it go?" Ana asks from behind._

"_It went," I deadly say._

_Turning to walk back to the dorms, I glance at her curious face. She quickly reins in the expression and mirrors mine: dead. As we walk back, she doesn't say anything. Thanks, Ana for not saying anything. I don't really need words right now. Why have my emotions died out right now? This is mission mode. Am I really upset that I have to tell him no? I shouldn't be and I sure as hell couldn't be. It has to be done._

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That sure is hell one V-day I won't forget anytime soon. Eventually, I notice that my fingertips are on the spot where he kissed me. My hand yanks away from that infected spot. The girls will be told eventually, once I've told Aido no. Rena comes out of the shower and I head in. Tomorrow is another day I suppose. Let's see if we can find anything else.

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The streets aren't so busy today. I have the north side, which has been left completely unchecked by all of us. It makes sense to send me here since we don't have Ana with us at the moment. I could be used as radar at one point or another. By watching people for a certain amount of time, I can tell if they have any certain abilities. If something is glared in my preverbal vision, I can follow them to see if they are something to worry about.

I have been out here for a good five hours and have easily covered this place. There are only two possible places in this small area and they're not very promising. This is good. It means that the Hunters have been pinpointed in this town. I found another bookstore I should tell Sarah about. There might be a few books she might want from there. I found a few. The heavy plastic bag swings on my wrist as I walk down to a little nameless café. Our pull-out time is in about thirty minutes. Thank God this section is small.

There is one more alleyway I have to check. It's very narrow and next to an abandoned shop and the nameless café. I slip away from the crowd unnoticed and start down the narrow passage way. Hmm, this looks like a cliché place to get mugged or something. Dark, dank, no people, lots of trash and a few dumpsters. Yeah, almost any place you go all alleyways look the same. The only real difference is the type of trash hanging around.

Heading down the nasty place, I easily move over trash bits while keeping my eyes opened for anything odd looking. This thing might be a dead-end. If that's true, it makes searching a little easier. Besides, there are more chances of hidden doors in the back. Stooping to check for any latches under a dumpster, I hear a bit hissing from some place. Looks like I got a vamp on my tail. I continue with my search, noting where the vampire is hiding. Back right corner of the second dumpster. Well, this could be a slight issue.

Soon, I come to a brick wall. So it is a dead-end. Taking out my map, I make this as a dead-end and start checking the wall out for hidden switches or latches. The hissing is getting louder and I ignore it. The vampire is directly behind me. Well, I've got one good shot at this, so let's make it count.

I reach in my zippered black hoodie and pull out Apollo locking and cocking it at the vamp's head. The woman falters, her pale blue ragged dress sticking to her with dirt. Her hands are half extended to me, but uncertainty and fear are etched over her starved face. It's obvious she is a Level E. She's not afraid of Apollo. E's usually aren't afraid of weapons. She's afraid of my eyes. Bright red and dark orange have taken over the irises and a dark, somewhat black gold has taken over the whites. Do this smart thing, E, and just go. My silencer is kinda on my other one. Why didn't I grab that one? Oh, I'm naturally left handed, that's why.

The E staggers back some, fear taking over her hollowed features. Her red eyes lose some of the glow, apprehension setting in. Soon, the starved woman jumps on the roofs and runs. I sigh in relief and change Artemis to my right holster while putting Apollo in the other. I'm used to firing Apollo of first, but my silencer got damaged beyond repair. Artemis should have been pulled out first. Oh well, she left and I'm still intact with all of my ammunition.

Exiting out of the nasty alleyway, I mark that one clean of Hunters and wander around for a little. That was my last place to check. With that done, I check a few other places I am suspicious of and I don't run into anyone or anything.

Sitting down at a table outside a coffee shop, I order a small cup of coffee with lots of sugar and a pastry. No harm in indulging a little. Besides, I can people watch from here and that is technically working. People pass by me, ignoring me easily. My senses haven't picked anything up at all. It's strange being able to relax a bit here. Nice, but strange. No doubt something will happen when my guard does drop. Lord knows that's the kind of luck I have. Ice abilities at eleven o'clock.

"Hello, Kaitlin-chan."

Speaking of bad luck. I look up at a grinning Aido and glare.

"Isn't it a bit early for you to be out here, Ice Boy?" I snip at him as he takes a seat.

"Yes, but I heard from some of the little Day Class students that you were out here," he responds.

Well, he has just compromised the rest my mission. Not like there is much left, but his presence here could be bad. I ignore his stare as I sip my coffee. He must have come out here to manipulate another embarrassing answer out of me. My hand bats a lose curl back from my face. I quickly pay the tab and get up. He rises with me and follows me down the street. I can't do anything with him trailing me like a dog. Seems I need to get rid of this vamp too, but I don't think he'll be as easy to get rid of. I turn down an alley I know it's clean of Hunters and any other activity and quickly spin around to face Aido.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Your answer," he says with a grin, "It has been a few days."

"Well, I got one for you. My answer…is…" I being to say, backing up to a wall.

While I was talking, he walked close to me and I backed up. My shoulders hit the brick wall. What is he doing?! He leans down with that husky like look.

"Yes, Kaitlin? What were you going to say?"

My jaw tightens shut. I can't trust my mouth to give the answer I need to give. He knows that I can't say what I need to when he's this close. Why do I give in to him at all?! Alright, let's try something simple.

"Y-you do know that I-I'm constantly being hunted and t-that I will have to leave the s-school eventually," I stutter, "Y-you will most likely b-be used against me and killed."

"You can tell me truthfully that you don't want me around you?" he asks near a whisper.

I lace my lips shut. No, I can't truthfully say that. As annoying as he is, he's fun to be around. The bickering is entertaining. I briefly wonder what someone would think if they saw us.

"You don't really understand the consequences of being involved with someone and something like me, do you?" I ask in a solid low voice, "Our other names where Soul Stealers and Life Eaters in the mission field. Do you know how we acquired such bloody names?"

He leans back with a slightly stunned face. My glare is hard and cold towards the ignorant vampire.

"My answer will be no for logical reasons and safety purposes. Until you understand just what you are asking of not only me, but of yourself, your coven and my friends, do not follow me around and ask me pointless and stupid questions like that."

"And what is your illogical answer?"

"You have an answer, Aido," I say with a frosted tone, "I suggest you don't ask for any more."

"You said my name," he comments with a soft grin, "Now if I can only get you to say it without you sounding like you're going to kill me."

"There won't be another time," I say and try to walk around him.

His arms shoot up above my head and I hate my height at the moment. Sending a heated glare at him, I try to dip under his arms. He pushes his side to the opened space I tried to use. An annoyed sigh releases itself from my lungs.

"What is your illogical answer?" he asks in a serious tone.

I look at his icy blues eyes and feel my resistance crumble a little. My back hits the wall and I cross my arms. I can't open my mouth. I was lucky enough to get the rest of that out and I don't think I can get anything else like that out at all.

"Would you tell me?"

"How can you understand?" I ask in a watery voice that surprises me, "All my life any type of affection or attention was very rare. How can you ask me to bring someone from the outside boundaries of my mind and experiences into my world? You may be a vampire, but do you know what it's like to hunt harmless people or to be hunted? You can't possibly understand what we face everyday and the constant worry of getting caught. One learns not to be afraid of death but to be afraid of rehabilitation. If I were to tell you all the people I have killed, from infants to parents to old people, just because of an order,or what would happened if any of us were caught, what would you do?"

"Kaitlin, I…" he says with wide eyes, "I'm willing to jump those boundaries."

That wasn't meant to come out. Well, parts of it, anyway.

"Don't consent to something you don't understand. I'm not going to let an innocent person into my messed up life," I say, angrily leaning into his face, "That kind of torture shouldn't be forced upon any person. I can be cruel, but I'm not completely heartless."

Suddenly, the image of a little girl with red hair, red wings and green eyes prods my mind. She was the last person I killed under orders. A griffling only a few years old holding a little griffin doll. She looked at me so terrified around the corpses of her parents. I had mangled their bodies so badly that even I didn't know where their wings started.

"I can hear your heart just fine."

He snaps me out of that wretched memory.

"Find me on a mission day and I guarantee that it will be silent. Move."

"Kaitlin, please," Aido says, lightly grasping my face, "Tell me your illogical answer. I know that is the one you want to say. You're right. I don't understand the consequences of involving myself with you, but I'm willing to take them with full stride. Have a little faith in me, firefly."

"Yes," I whisper and immediately give myself a mental slap.

"What?"

"My illogical answer…yeah."

"Then will you act on the logical answer or the other?" he asks with a small smirk.

"I don't know. I shouldn't…I shouldn't even be talking to you, but I…I can't…"

"Kaitlin, will you say yes?"

My brown eyes lock with his patient blue ones. All my thoughts are so tangled that I can't pull out the important ones. Everything is hazed over and all I can hear in my mind is the word yes. Yes for him. Yes for myself. Yes for my emotions. Yes for everything that I should protect.

"Yes," I whisper like a mantra.

His cool arms gather me in a hug. My ear is pressed to his silent chest and I wrap my arms around his frame. I relax some, but with guilt and a lingering ominous feeling is still hanging around. Every time something good happens to any of us, something comes and breaks that down, hard. It hasn't failed yet, but God I wish it did.

"Then it's settled," I hear him say above me, "Your problems are my problems."

"You'd run if I had to?" I ask flatly, pulling away from him.

"I may just do so," he answers with a grin.

"You're parents and coven leader would kill you."

He laughs and pulls me in a tighter hug, not quite dispelling my daunted feelings. Against my will, I lean my head under his chin. Now I'm happy for my height. Oh, I did not just think that. Wait, I have to tell the girls now…!

"Aw shit!" I nearly yell in his chest.

"What?" he asks, pulling away for a moment.

"I have to tell the girls," I whine, "D'you know what they'll do?! Oh man, this sucks!"

He chuckles and kisses me on my forehead. Sure, he uses that to calm me down. Damn him for making it work. A sigh escapes my lungs as I lean into him more. My phone goes off making me jump a bit before I tug it out. Sarah. Oh God, please let me control my voice.

"Don't say anything," I say with a dangerous look, "Hey Sarah, what's up?"

"_Hey, where are you? You're fifteen minutes late. Are you okay?" she says in English._

"Yeah, sorry. Everything's okay. I just got a little sidetracked at a café I was hanging out at. I'll be there in a little. I'm headed there now," I respond in English.

"_Oh. What happened? Did you see someone?"_

"Err, you could say that. I'll be there in a bit."

"'_Kay. Don't stay out much longer."_

"Right. 'Bye."

"'_Bye."_

"I wonder if you realize that I can speak English fluently?" he asks above me, resting his head against mine.

"You might, but not everyone here can."

Suddenly, something jumps from the rooftop behind Aido. Grabbing his white shirt collar, I tug him back to the wall and tug out Artemis, aiming pointblank at the same female vampire. My energy automatically flares, eyes lighting up and making the woman falter again. Why has she come back?

"Leave, vampire," I say, my breath a mixture of fire and black, "I don't want to kill you and you don't want to die."

She glances between me and Aido. The woman bows some at Aido, mummer something along the lines of master, and runs off again. She must have thought I was a meal for him or something. I holster my gun and take a deep breath, releasing my energy. Oh no, energy. My scared gaze reaches a very shocked Aido. Great. The girls are gonna kill me, 'cause not only has Kiryuu seen this, but now Aido has too.

"Aido, listen to me," I say in a shaky voice, "Please don't tell anyone what you just saw. When I mean nobody, I mean Kuran and the girls too, got it? What you saw is what the Hunters are mainly after."

"You have my word, Kaitlin-chan," he says with a smile, "What else can you do?"

"Hey," I say, shaking a finger at him, "We just started this going out business. That doesn't mean you get to know everything right away. Besides, it's unsafe to talk about those things outside walls."

"I suppose you _are_ a big bad huntress," he mutters near my ear.

How do I not notice his movements?

"Damn Skippy I am," I say, leaning to his face with a grin.

"What would you do," he asks with a cool breath, "if I kissed you?"

"Punch you," I mummer, coming closer to him.

"Let's test that, shall we?"


	10. Chapter 10

Sat. back and with a very late update. Sorry, I was in a motivational slump. You're probably gong to kill me for the end of this chapter, but you have to find me first! As a reward for patience, here is a little insight on one of the girls. Anyway, this story has the longest weekend ever, but it's not over yet! Kaitlin said what?! How will everyone else react? Who will be told? Will any one be told? Where the hell are Sarah and Ana? Why don't I have Zero in my possession?! Anyway, I own nothing familiar.

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Chapter 10: Icy butterfly

Sarah

The streets of this little town are somewhat crowded. Today's my last day and I'm still some good hours from the school. Luckily it's around eleven in the morning. Things have been going smoothly in town with little activity. Some little kids tug at their parent's hands and point at me. It's obvious that I'm not native and they don't get that many foreigners in this particular part of Japan. It's understandable to stare a bit. The school is farther from the large cities, which is okay with me. I enjoy the rural landscape. Though, this means fewer bookshops with manga, but whatever. Checking the map around this little town, there is only one other place I need to check before I leave. Let's see how well this will go since today's been very uneventful.

The last two days have been interesting. There are so many different little towns and though they are very small, each is unique. I almost feel invasive every time I come to a little town and the people stare at me. Then again, it feels like I'm on vacation or something. The street I need comes up and I turn down it. When Angelica called me yesterday and relayed that information about the Hunters, I really wanted to get back to school. Why, though, I don't know. Perhaps I was worried about the girls' safety or the students or Cross. She called this morning telling me what the compromise was and that she hadn't called Ana about it yet. Lord knows that she won't take it that well.

The last three towns that I hit had some very small covens in them. That's to be expected since most vampires don't live in massive groups and usually its families. After breaking into their homes and getting some information on them, I hacked some Hunter systems. Yay, for libraries. These little covens are off the records and from what I saw, pretty harmless. They mostly fed off homeless people or animals. They're smart to not attack the known populace and to find other means of food in order to have a safe household. I always left those homes quickly, fearing that a real monster will bring exterminators upon them. They need to stay off the record.

I push the door to the Blue Glass Diner open, a bell ringing quietly above me and seat my self. I arrived in the town around three in the morning and scoped out the few places around here. I fell asleep around six and have been sleeping until about thirty minuets ago. The town is very small. This place seemed to be very active at night for some reason. A waitress comes over and asks me if I'd like anything. I order a simple and quick breakfast, ignoring the woman's watchful eyes. Yes, I know I'm from the U.S. Please stop staring.

The emotional atmosphere is calm with some crackling tension and curiosity. That part is caused by me. It's not too thick, which means I'm not causing that much of an uproar. Glancing around the warmly colored place, some locals immediately cast their eyes at their food. A little boy with chestnut hair stares with his mouth partially opened. I smile and wave at him. His eyes widen a little more and he dumbly waves back. His mother glances behind her, to me, and grabs her son's hand while scolding him for staring. I giggle a bit from this and continue to look around. My food comes soon and I happily devour it. Someone seats themselves in the chair next to me at my table. Who in the hell would do that?

A man a few years older than me sits comfortably in the chair and smiles at me. He black hair is ruffled and a bit messy. He wears a black button up shirt and jeans. His skin is very pale and his eyes are nearly as black as his hair. Is he a local? Some of them stare at us and the atmosphere gets a little tenser.

"May I help you?" I ask, pushing my empty plate to the side.

"I've come to escort you," he says in a velvet voice, "Remember, my aunt told me you were coming in town and to me you here."

Alright, either he's nuts, has mistaken me for someone else or this is a lead to somewhere… or a trap. Might as well play along.

"Oh," I say with some surprise, "That's why I didn't recognize you. I thought she was meeting me."

Some eyes and tension from the people leave and soon conversations begin to get louder. The feeling of satisfaction wells around this man. It seems that I was supposed to follow along whether it's good or bad for me.

"There were some problems at home," he answers with a placid shrug, "Are you ready to go?"

Okay, this guy could either be A. a decoy from the Hunters if there are any here, B. a vampire, though why one would be up at this hour or another inhuman creature, or C. some guy who has mistaken me for someone else. There is the D. option of I don't know and have a bad feeling about this.

"Sure. Where are we going?"

"To Canipre House."

Canipre. Yes, option D. it is. I haven't heard that family name in a long time. I was about six or seven when I first heard it and it was also the last. My eyes rove over the man's face and I try to remember him. It's been too long. Why would I be summoned there? Revenge most likely. How'd they know I was here? Why are they here? Shit, this is really bad.

"I don't have a choice, huh?" I quietly mummer, looking at the table.

"No, you don't," he says, getting up and offering his hand to me.

Looking at his hand, I sigh and leave my tip and the amount of the meal. Damn, and here I thought this would be a quiet ending to my trip. Karma. My hand lightly slips into his. He pulls me up with some of his vampire strength while I grab my backpack. Yes, he's is one of them. In fact, we may have met during that mission. It was still so long ago. Does he still think I'm with the Hunters' Special Unit? I wonder what his aunt will say when I tell her that not only am I out of the HSU, but out of the Hunters altogether.

He doesn't release my hand. I could just shift his energy, but that will cause too much commotion. He knows this and is using himself and my secret as a shield for him. Very smart. His aunt must've taught him that. Anger radiates around him. It's nearly chewable. We walk down a few streets, some of which I don't know the name of, but I do know where we are. Right now, he's leading us to the upper district of the small town.

"Do I at least get your name?" I ask, not really expecting an answer.

"I wouldn't think you'd remember me," he mutters.

So I did meet him before.

"My name's Kizuna."

"My name's Sarah."

He stops and looks back at me with a baffled look. I smile and shrug. Guess he didn't expect me to have a name. That isn't the reason he's stopped. There is no real reason to withhold my name.

"Are we just going to stand here, silly?" I say with a quirked eyebrow. He glares and continues.

We come to a three story house with vines crawling up the sides and the front. We enter and remove our shoes. My mountain boots are a bit more difficult to remove, especially since he won't let go of my hand. It's not so much a safeguard now that we're inside, but I won't be able to come back to this town if I harmed this family. I may not be able to come back either way. Soon, we walk up both flights of stairs and head down a dark hallway.

"Your name means bond, doesn't?" I ask, trying to ease his tension, "Do you mind if I ask why?"

"Yeah, I do."

He knocks on a door and opens it. He yanks me through, not being so kind now. He shoves me in front of him and twists my arm behind my back. I wince at the grip, but relax, making it hurt less. A large four-poster bed holds a wrapped up person. She lets her dark hair cascade freely, from what I can see in the dark. A lamp flicks on beside her and my memories flood back. Two terrified faces covered with blood and ash. This woman…I know her. Fuck. I killed half this family when I was little. They're angry. Really, really angry. This woman's husband, brother, sister and daughter, they're dead by my hands. Kizuna's grip tightens further and I welcome the pain. It's what is due.

"Canipre-sama," I say and bow as much as I can. The husband was Italian mixed with something else.

"Life-Eater," she responds with a raspy voice. I visibly wince at the battlefield nickname.

"Please, call me Sarah. I hate that other name."

"Why? It's what you are, what you do," she spits at me, "What you did to our family and others."

"I have no excuse for what I did expect that I didn't know what I was doing then. Even that is a poor excuse."

"You didn't know that you were killing them?!" he shouts behind me.

"I didn't know that killing was wrong," I nearly whisper, "the Hunters found me when I was very young and warped my small mind. I know better now. Nothing I say can ever measure up to what actions took place and the grief both of you have to burden and have dealt with for these years. I understand that you want to kill me and I would agree to let you. I deserve that and more. However, there are those I need to take care of and I won't die here. My leader and best friends would come to my grave and drag me back to the living just to chew me out."

"Life-Eater," she asks, rising shakily out of bed, "You sound like you've abandoned your owners."

Her white lace nightgown is wrinkled, but still elegant. Silvery flowers are embroidered lightly everywhere. Why is she ill?

"The fact that you know what I am and who I am puts both of you in great danger," I say, not looking her in the eyes, "Yes, the E-Shifters are no longer with the Hunters and we are on the run as we speak. Not many in the non-human world know this. The Hunters still try to use past events as scare tactics. Apparently, we did our jobs well. We've been running for nearly six years now."

"So the Hunters have lost their best mindless beasts," she says in a thoughtful voice and comes to me.

"Yes, and we're not as mindless as they like now," I answer with a small smile, glancing up at her.

"Why are you here then?" Kizuna asks above me.

"We found a temporary refuge and are checking for Hunters. That diner you found me in was a place that I was checking out. I wasn't able to see anything because you came a little too early."

"So you no longer hunt?"

"I hunt for Hunters," I say with a sad grin, "We'd like to bring them down, but five against the world is a bit uneven in odds, don't you think? Right now, we're just trying to survive and pass under their radar."

"Five?" she asks with pursed lips. She must've missed the plural I used before.

"Yes, there are five known of us. They're all my friends and who I protect. Surely you knew that there was more than one?"

"You understand the difference and consequences of life and death?" she quietly asks, her black eyes studying me.

"Yes," I mummer, looking again at the floor, "I no longer want to be an instrument for death and misery. I'd rather just be me."

"As though you could be anything else! That's all you know how to be!" he snaps in my ear. I twist to look up at his angry dark eyes.

"I remember you now. You were the boy that hid behind a wall downstairs and you had lots of drawings around you. Do you still draw?"

A fist lashes to my face and I stumble a little. I present my face to him again and he hits me again. He was around drawings, but his face was covered in loose blood from his cousin and ash from his uncle.

"Enough, Kizuna," she says with a calmed voice, "She was not being sadistic in that question. Let her go."

"I've changed or rather, I'm enlightened," I say, doing my best to face him, "I find it…indescribable in the most negative way to hurt someone like I had done. Somehow, my young mind knew then that killing was wrong. But, again I was a child that knew no better. What makes it worse is the fact that I have the ability to do it so damn easily. I lost the _will_ to do so a long time ago. I know this won't change what anger you have for me. You have no reason to change it."

He hesitates and squishes my hand one last time before letting go. I rub my joint out and then my face. I don't have room to complain, especially since she's beginning to trust me. Perhaps she's giving up with the immediate revenge.

"You no longer hunt?" she asks again, more to herself and I just nod.

"What an odd turn of events," she continues, "and yet it's such old news within the human realm."

"They did there best to keep our disappearance quiet and they're still trying," I offer, "Though I must recommend not telling anyone that you know this. Saying something will draw unwanted attention to you. In a way, we're fighting off the same people."

"Don't pin us together, murderer," he spits at me.

I say nothing, but look down again. How can I fend off the truth?

"Leave here, girl," she says, looking at a picture on the wall, "Leave and never come back. If you do, we will not hesitate to kill you. There are no Hunters here."

"Thank you, Canipre-sama," I say with a deep bow, "I hope that we never meet again for your sake and your nephew's sake."

I turn to walk out the door, nodding to the flabbergasted man and proceed out of the house. He follows me to make sure I leave his haven. At the door I bid him good night since I know he'll go to sleep after I leave. The dark wooden door slams behind me and the sun blinds my eyes.

A tear slides down my face. They should have killed me after what I did and yet, here I am; a monster let back into the world. Why? Why does anything want to be around me or let me live? I don't deserve it. Why doesn't Takuma stay away from me? My feet begin to lead me away from the house and I exit the little town. I choke my mind away from the gift I received from Takuma. Everything blurs.

Trees pass by me. I haven't acted like this since I was a kid. I sit against a tree, smothering my face in my knees and just cry. There is still work to do, but I can't get up. I stay like this for some sort of time, I'm not sure how long and I pull out my phone. Steadying my voice and wiping my face, I dial Angelica.

"_Yes?"_

"Do you remember the Canipre family?"

"_Yeah, why? What's wrong?"_

"I found the nephew and wife, or they found me, would be better."

"…_Where are you?"_

"Well outside of the town they're in. They told me to leave and that my target wasn't there. What else could I do, but leave?"

"_Christ, Sarah. Are you alright? Do you want to bypass the last two towns? You can, you know."_

"No, I still need to check those. Don't worry; I'll be back later tonight. I figured that you'd like to know that they are still hanging around and where they are. It's a bit odd, don't you think?"

"_Stop down playing this, Sarah. I know you've been crying. Come back to the school."_

"There's work to be done, Angelica and I'm not shirking my duties. I'll see you tonight. 'Bye."

"…'_Bye."_

I didn't mean to sound so harsh, but I don't need pity like a child. My legs get up and they crack as I walk the out sleep of them. Using my energy, I run to the next town and quickly pass through it. This one's clean. I run to the next one as well, wearing myself out, trying not to cry again. The towns are just a blur of colors and sounds. This wasn't supposed to be so depressing. Heh, therapists would have fun with the girls and me. We're just a bundle of problems. I run, only noting the sun dipped and it's around seven. I'm still a two hour run outside of school, but I'm way ahead of schedule. I come to a large and old tree and begin to climb it. I need a nap in a very desperate way. Sitting against the trunk on a large limb, I tie my backpack on the limp and dangle my legs. My phone, set to wake me in an hour, sits in my jean pocket. I cross my ankles and sleep.

* * *

A constant vibration wakes me. My hand whaps the phone, effectively shutting off the alarm. The sky is very dark now. I stretch my stiff and locked back. My backpack is still tied and that I didn't fall off. Untying it, I jump and immediately start running. I can feel the pain welling in my heart again. I run, blind to time, and soon find myself a few hundred feet from the school gate. My lungs heave and my arms and legs shake. That's right; I haven't eaten since this morning.

I sneak onto the campus, easily avoiding the Night Class and prefects. Opening the Sun Dorm main door, I see Angelica on the staircase. She stands on the third step, making me feel shorter than usual, with a blank look and crossed arms. Silver light cascades over her dark skin. She seems like a towering shadow; my shadow. The blank composure I have is beginning to break. She walks down the steps silently and tugs me into a deep hug. Her wide arms tighten around my whole frame and I hug back, silently crying into her shoulder. Soon, four other arms wrap around me, two on each side.

Rena whispers comforting words while Kaitlin rubs my shoulders and leans her head on the side of mine. All I need is Ana to lean her forehead on my back and wrap her arms around my stomach. I imagine her there. I feel protected in this mass. My emotions freely rip out of me as I cry harder. Eventually, I stop and they let me go. Angelica puts an arm around my shoulder and walks to me my room.

"Do you want to talk?" she asks, sitting me on my bed.

"Why? Saying these things is like beating a dead horse," I mummer, placing my backpack next to me, "You know what I'll say like I'll know what you'd say. Here are my maps and extra information I got. The majority of places I visited were clean."

She takes the maps and other papers, sending a worried look at me and glances at the papers. I should go eat something, but the cafeteria is closed and I don't have any food here.

"Lemme know when Ana gets back," I say, rising to get some pajamas, "I know she won't come back to the room for a while when she gets back. She'll want to see all of the maps and process them in a computer as one large document."

"Alright, Sarah," she says, heading towards the door, "See you later."

She looks one more time and shuts the door. Locking it, I change into my old silk shirt and shorts. Uncaringly tossing my backpack on the floor, I curl in my blankets and try to let my body drift into sleep. Though everything within me is very tired, I can't sleep. Shuffling to the edge, I reach for a dark velvet box.

I don't know why he gave me this. I got him some manga I thought he'd like. Something with humor. I slowly open the box and an icy blue butterfly clip shines even in the dark. It has silver and gold twisting lines from the body of the butterfly and silver edges on the wings. It's a very thick and strong clip. I've already tried to see if it would stay in and it does. I can even hide a Tear in it.

Why? Is it because he thinks that I'm a normal person? If he had seen me tonight or when I went to the Canipre House, would he still come around me? Probably not. I was such an idiot when he gave me this. A small smile forms on my lips from that little magical mess up.

* * *

_I run with my gift in hand and hope I won't be late for the meeting. My sweatpants make loud swooshing sounds as I run down the hall to the library. I got the first two books of a manga series for Takuma for Valentine's Day. If the girls knew I'm dong this…I shudder to think what would happen. Oh the taunting. The books aren't wrapped, seeing as how that's a bit ridicules and wasteful of paper. If it was Christmas, I'd wrap it then. Entering the empty library, I look for the blonde guy, but don't see him. I glance at the clock above the door and see that I have about five minutes to kill before he usually gets here. _

_A sigh of relief blows past my lips and I decide to look around the library as usual. The last visit where I knocked into him as been well ignored…at least by him. I'm doing my best to brush it off, so it's sort of become an untouched topic. At least, neither of us has brought it up. I wander through the history section and look at some books covering the Feudal Era of Japan. I'd like to look through the one on myths, but I don't know if I have the time to. Slipping one out of the shelf, I look at the content page. This one seems interesting._

"_Good evening, Wave-san."_

"_Hello, Takuma-san," I respond with a grin, "How are you this evening?"_

"_Well, now that this holiday is almost over," he answers with a slightly worn look._

"_I figured that," I say with a laugh and put the book back, "Kaitlin and Rena woke up to screaming this morning. They're closest to the gates and needless to say both of them were not happy. You'd figure that the students would have more dignity, but I guess not."_

_Now I'm getting nervous. I have the manga behind my back so he can't see it. We talk a bit more, I tell him about some of my classes and he tells me about some funny family stories. Glancing at the clock, I notice that he has more time than I do. Let's make this a bit smooth…wait, I just forgot what I was going to say to him. Crap! I had this worked out for me to sound somewhat intelligent and not like a klutz! Ahhh, I don't know what to say!_

"_Erm, Takuma-san," I start with a nervous hint, "My time's running a bit short…so…"_

"_Oh, sorry if I kept you long," he answers with an apologetic smile._

"_No, that's not it," I say, waving my hand a bit and balancing the books, "It's just…look, I've haven't a good way to tell you this, so here it goes. I have a gift for you, but I'm most definitely not a fan girl of any sort. I just wanted to get you something because I…well; I enjoy talking to you and consider you kind of like a friend. Which is weird considering the situation, but odder things have happened, so here."_

_I present the two books after that ridiculous sounding explanation. My face isn't red…yet. Must stay distracted…if I stay distracted I won't turn red. He takes the books with a wide eyed expression, seeming taken back that I would get him something he'd like. I hope he likes it. My fingers play with the hem of my shirt and I can feel my face heating up._

"_Uh, see you later Takuma-san," I say and walk around him, "Ana'll kill me if I'm late. 'Bye."_

"_Wait, I also have something for you."_

"_Say what now?" I ask in a flat voice. That was unexpected._

_He smiles at me and hands me a dark velvet box. Looking between him and the box in his hands, I gently take it. I can't help but stare at the object._

"_Are you going to open it or stare as though it will talk?" he playfully asks._

"_Oh, err, right."_

_I open it to find a beautiful butterfly clip. Holy cow! There's no way I should take this! I mean, look at it!_

"_Takuma-san, I can't accept this!" _

"_Why? Are you not able to accept things from me?" he asks with that still playful tone._

"_Uh, no that's not it that. It's just that this is so expensive and I just…I can't—"_

_He takes the clip from me, removes the Tear from my hair and fixes it in my hair. Wait, he can actually do this sort of stuff? Cool hands lightly brush stray hair from my face. Did he just…? Oh my God, he did. _

"_You look wonderful."_

"_I'm in sweats and a T-shirt and you say that?"_

"_You always do."_

_Holy crap, that's my cue to leave. Entering unknown territory here._

"_You should go," he gently says, removing the clip while handing my dagger back, "I wouldn't want you to get caught by your friends."_

"_How did you…"_

"_That's my secret," he replies with a small grin, "I wouldn't want you to be tormented by their taunting."_

"_Perceptive, aren't we?" I mummer._

_I begin to walk away. Looking back, I immediately run into a chair. Catching myself, he shakes his head a bit and I nearly run out the door. What in the world just happened? It was a surprise that he had a gift at all. My brain is a little dazed…alright, really dazed. My feet wander me back to the Fight Hall and before I open the door, something clicks. _

_Where in the world am I going to hide this?! I need to get to my bag without getting caught. Good thing this shirt's baggy. Slipping the box half down my waist band, my shirt covers the rest. I do my best to check and make sure that it can't be seen. I walk in, passing the girls and getting to my bag. Gently placing it in the bottom, I cover it with my school clothes and some other objects._

* * *

This thing is still a surprise. He probably is wondering where I am. Normally, I spend a few good hours in the library around the time he wakes up. Maybe he thinks I'm avoiding him. Am I? There are so many things in this life to avoid. Does this fall into that category? Sliding the box back under the bed and snuggle back into my blankets. Perhaps I'll tell Ana about it when she get's back. If she's not too tired. No doubt Angelica will tell her about my little run in this the past. Canipre. I still think I deserve more than death.

We all probably do. Does Aido understand this if he's serious about Kaitlin? In fact, does Cross even know what risk he's taking by letting us be here? He was one of the best Hunters, but he wasn't brought into the restricted operations because of his soft heart. We are the restricted files of the restricted flies. There aren't too many that know about us or what we are. Only that we can steal life away by a simple touch. Cross doesn't know this. He may not see us being here as a big threat. We'll probably leave in a few months just because we'd feel like it's been too long in one place. It's possible to be found out sooner than that. Hunters know we're in the general area.

It's amazing how no one really understands just how big of a deal it is to know us. I don't think Kuran really cares. Can't blame him. He _knows,_ knows us…or at least Ana. She says they could've been really close friends, almost brother and sister. They just understood each other so well, even at that young age. I wonder what it's like to have a flawless connection with someone other than E-Shifters. The girls are marvelous, for sure. I think I would die if even one of them died. We've been there for each other as much as we can, considering the circumstances we've been faced with. I still can't help but wonder.

Someone urgently bangs on the door, making me jolt a little. Flinging the blankets, I turn on the lights and open the door. A dagger is in my hand. Kaitlin stands with a very worried and slightly scared look on her face. I mirror with my own worry.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I ask.

"It's Ana."


	11. Chapter 11

Sat. back in action. Now before you guys, the few that read this, get mad at me I have a very good reason for not updating, besides being lazy. My laptop of ten year, Howard, died recently and I had to wait to get another. This chapter is dedicated to Howard for putting up with all my shit and loading all my chapters and to Howard the Second, may this one last just as long. Work is really kicking my ass and I'm forced to be cheerful all the time…not in my system. Also, in chapter nine, it was Rena that was supposed to call Kaitlin. I can't go back in fix it, because I don't have the chapter with me anymore…sad, yes? Anyway, it's funny how you start writing chapters and don't expect things in them. I've had this one running over in my mind, but I'll probably get something that is unexpected. Note: the length is about 31 pages! Right, I own nothing that's familiar, but I wish I owned some of it (Zero). On wards!

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Chapter 11: Caught in the middle

Ana

I snap the phone shut with a worn sigh. Angelica just called me about Sarah's run in with the past and the compromise made. Leaning on my knees, my hands run through my hair. This is getting out of hand. Perhaps we should leave the school. It may be better for everyone in the end. I don't know right now. I'm done with my towns, but I know she still has two towns before she gets back to school. Even still, there is a good deal of distance between here and the school. The forest around me chirps and chatters, trying to help me drown my guilt out. Poor girl's having a bad day. I wish I was there to comfort my friend. Wonderful timing, isn't it? Glancing at the time on my phone, I sling my instrument case on my back. She would kill me if I came back too early. It's amazing how a group of extremely independent girls are so close knit that each one worries about each other. If I did return to the school before sundown, and it's possible despite the distance between here and there, she'd yell at me for shirking my job and wasting energy. After that she'd spout how she doesn't need to be taken care off when more important things are going on. Since we're on the run most of the time, she thinks that's a valid excuse.

Truth be told, all of us would, and have said, what Sarah has said many times. I know its hypocrisy, but I like to think of it as perspective. With a swift tug, I pull the rubber band off my wrist and braid my hair up. It's a loose, messy thing, but it'll hold and that is what's important. Reaching into my back pocket, I unfold the map I use as my detail-sheet. Some terms from the Hunters never really leave. My half was pretty much clean and mostly human. The few things that were of different species were harmless to humans and well hidden. There was only one coven I met and it was so small, it couldn't even be called a coven. My lips twitch into a smile. They were a family of four with two young kids. It's hilarious that they invited me in and didn't even ask me if I wanted to be breakfast. Instead, they invited me to breakfast.

This family didn't even live in a town. They lived in the middle of the woods about five or ten miles from a small village. My hair and clothes naturally gave off a "city-slicker" look. A black long-sleeved shirt and dark blue jeans with a studded black belt. These types of belts have saved my life more than once and I refuse to wear any other type of belt. They can make good weapons when you don't have any on you and you don't want big secrets let out. Shaking my head, I begin the trek back to school. My instrument case is a bit lighter for a few different reasons. I put my weapons away since there's nothing in the area at the moment. I've yet to be sneaked up on unless it's my fault and that won't happen out here. My radar is stretched about half the limit, which means I'll have time to draw my swords when I sense something. Also, the reason why my case is much lighter now is because, well…I'm out of food. I have water, but no more food. It seems I under packed what I thought was needed. This perimeter is too new to me, so I was a little off in my estimation. I'm glad that that family found me.

* * *

_Tossing out my last bit of clothing and my blanket, I realize the truth…I'm outta food. Great. I had better not run into anything out here. My head drops with defeat as I pack my things back in the bass case. Perhaps I should hold a grudge against my instrument case…irrational, yes. I don't care, though. What am I going to do? This sucks…I like food way too much and I've been forced to go without it too many times. Continuing down the path I've chosen, I dig my map out. Why this piece of paper should even be checked? This thing is burned into my memory, but I'm hopeful that I'll find some small town to get some little bit of food. A low possib―_

_Two level Ds with a high possibility of growth, around six or seven, northwest, 150 feet and heading towards me. Vampire kids? What are they doing out here and by themselves? If they're looking for a meal, I'm certainly not one for them. Hrm, by my guess and at the rate they're going, they should be here within a minute or two. Might as well see what they're up to. I mean, even little vamp kids know to stay away from something like me. Most of the time. They have much better instincts than humans. Slinging my case on my back, I easily jump into the thick branches. At least its spring so all the leaves are out photosynthesizing. _

_Two little kids wander into the area below me, looking around cautiously. The boy is taller than the girl and they look related somehow. He has shock black hair with a purple tint while the girl has dark brown hair with a black tinted streak here and there. They're not orphans. They're too well kept to be. The boy's blue jeans are hardly faded and his red shirt looks very clean. The girl's white summer dress speaks for itself, being stark white. Her skin is nearly the same color. _

"_I know I smelt a weird human here! I'm sure of it," he mutters to himself, looking around._

"_Will they'll want to come home to see Mommy and Daddy?" the girl asks, "We never get to see people."_

"_Well, if this guy's lost, we could help him," he answers, rubbing his head._

"_Hey, this person could be a girl, you know," she retorts, her hands on her little hips, "Not everyone we don't meet is a boy."_

"_Why do you always do that?" he snaps, turning to the younger girl._

"_Why do you always do _that_?" she says right back._

_Oh yeah, either first cousins or siblings. The two banter back and forth. They don't relay any important information. So, time to sort my options. These two are kids, but kids have parents, and parents' equals problems for me. Or, they could just help me and I could play innocent human trying to get out of the forest and see where that leads me. Then again, I could just wait for them to leave and continue on my way, but I need food…crap. Let's go with lost human. Running is always an option later on. Slowly climbing down on the lowest branch, the two kids freeze and listen. I force myself to nearly fall out of the tree and land clumsily, letting my knees bang on the grass._

"_Oh, I thought I heard some people down here," I say, rubbing my knees, "Do you think you can help me? I'm a little lost and I haven't any food."_

_The two look at each other, both with black eyes, and grin at me. It's not a malicious 'we're going to eat you' grin, but a happy, kiddies' one. Seems I'm in for a bit of luck. They don't ask why I was in a tree. Suddenly, two hands grab each of mine and begin to drag me off while two little voice babble about different things and the girl sticking her tongue out at the boy, saying that I'm a girl. After a few paces and more questions, I finally laugh._

"_Whoa, hold on you two," I say with a grin, "How about we introduce each other, and then I'll answer your questions?"_

"_Oh, right," the boy answers, looking sheepish, "My name's Kichi!"_

"_And I'm Rinrin," she says on my left, "But you can call me Rinni. It's easier."_

"_Well, my name's Ana," I say to both of them, "Now, before you chew my ears off with questions, where are we going?"_

"_To our house!" they answer._

"_Why?"_

"_Mommy can give you food!" Rinni reasons._

"_And Daddy can tell you where to go, since you're lost," Kichi responds with a proud, tough guy look. He seems proud of his father. _

"_Are you two sure your parents won't mind bringing a stranger home with you?" I ask cautiously. This could still be a trick and the kids not even know it._

"_Yeah, it's not a big deal," he answers with a toothy smile, letting a canine poke out a little. It would be adorable if I wasn't paranoid. _

"_We don't get to see a lot of people, anyway," Rinni mummers with a pout._

_Oh man, that's too cute to handle. I'm a sucker for kids. Well, I'll go but I'm keeping my guard up. After fifteen minutes of walking and nonstop questions, I know their favorite colors, favorite animals, what they like to eat before bedtime, and all of Rinni's dolls' names. I have no idea why I'm a kid magnet, despite being a sucker for them. This sort of thing has happened more than once. For some reason in nearly every place we go, I get mobbed by little kids. I don't really mind it, but it's not really good for their wellbeing. Besides that, why in the world would little kids want to hang around me? I figured _these_ kids would have enough sense to keep away._

_A small two story house comes into view. It's very classic Japanese. My hands are let free as the two children run up to the front door yelling for their mother. I continue in my own pace and stop at the front side of the porch. The door slides open._

"_Look! See Mommy, I wasn't kidding this time!" Kichi says, pointing at me and tugging on her apron. _

_Her hair is the same color as her son's, though with a stronger tint of purple. She has a yellow long sundress on and her white apron is spattered every so often with blue icing marks. Pitch black orbs widen with surprise._

"_My, Kichi, you weren't kidding this time," she says, putting her fingers upon her lips, "Young lady, what's your name?"_

"_My name is Ana, ma'am," I answer with a respectful bow._

"_I'm Nania," she responds with a smile, and walks down the steps, "My children have told me that you're lost and have no food."_

"_Yes," I answer with a smile, "I was on my way to the instrument repair shop in the next town over, but I got lost. Luckily, I still had water before your cute kids found me."_

"_Well, dear, you did the right thing conserving your water," she comments with a motherly smile._

"_It's not the first time I've been lost," I say with a sheepish look. That's actual truth. For a walking radar, I have horrible sense of direction anywhere in towns. Forest and other things like that, for some reason, I'm fine in._

"_My husband, Icho, won't be home for a few more hours," Nania informs me, while wiping her hands on her apron, "But you are welcomed to stay until he returns."_

"_Oh, I don't want to be an inconvenience," I say, bringing my hands up._

"_Nonsense, Ana," she responds with another mother like smile, "We don't receive that much company and the children will greatly appreciate someone else here besides their mother."_

_She beckons me with a small wave of her pale hand, and the two kids are jumping up and down telling me to come in. This could be one hell of a trap, but I can't hesitate long or they'll start wondering. Might as well go through with it. Stepping on the porch and entering the small entrance way, I untie my shoes and slide them into an unused corner. I follow Nania into the kitchen with my case still on my back. Wonder why they are up during the daytime? The whole burn to ashes thing is totally false, but they are nocturnal creatures and prefer to sleep when the sun is up._

"_You may place that in the corner, if you like," she says, turning to her small cake, "I'll make sure the children don't play with your instrument."_

"_Thank you," I answer and place my case down._

_Seating myself at the low table, I look around the quant kitchen. The paint is a pale yellow color, like fading sunlight or early morning light. Either way, it's nice. Nania would blend right in with her dress that's almost the same shade. The walls are decorated with different pictures, some photos while others are paintings. There was also a hinted blue decoration around the room to accent the yellow._

"_So, dear," Nania conversationally starts, "I take it that you're from the western hemisphere."_

"_What gave me away?" I ask with a small grin._

"_Your eyes mostly," she returns, "For some reason, I always notice people's eyes first. You have such an incredible shade of light blue. Are you from America or Germany?"_

"_America, actually."_

"_And you speak Japanese so well."_

"_Thank you. Naturally, I had to learn how. I've lived here for a few years and was just kind of thrown in the language."_

_That's not really true. The Hunters taught us at least seven different languages and these were the most used. I wasn't really thrown into many new things when we came to this country. _

"_Have you been to any other countries?"_

"_No, ma'am, I haven't." Lie._

"_Ana!"_

"_Ana!"_

_Kichi and Rinni run into the kitchen, each taking a seat next to me._

"_Are you really from America?!" Kichi asks with wide eyes._

"_Where you really eavesdropping?" I retort with a raise brow and smile._

_He blushes and Rinni giggles._

"_Yes, I'm from America," I say with a wry grin._

"_That's so cool!" Rinni exclaims, clutching a doll with black hair and green eyes. _

"_Have you been other places?" he asks._

"_No, only here. I've been quite a few places in the U.S., though."_

"_Aw, but here is boring," he mutters, crossing his arms._

"_I think here is awesome," I counter, smiling, "but that's because I'm not from here. One thing that defines a foreigner is new places that person hasn't been to. I've stopped feeling foreign here, but this place still seems new to me. If I brought you to a state in America, you'd feel like that too. It's all new."_

"_I've never thought of that," Rinni says, patting her dolls head, "so, once something new becomes old it won't be foreign anymore…foreign means new, right?"_

"_Not exactly, sweetheart," her mother says from the counter, "it means that someone who isn't born into the country they are in is someone foreign."_

"_Oh," Kichi says, snapping his fingers, "Ana's new and foreign!"_

_I laugh some at his enlightened moment and at Rinni, who's trying to snap her fingers, too. The kids and I chatter for a while longer while Nania comments every so often while getting lunch ready. That's good since I haven't eaten breakfast. My stomach tries to voice the same opinion, but my hand pushes the upset organ to stop the growling. Soon a simple lunch of a soup mixed with vegetables, meat and rice is served. This is the best food I've had since going to the Academy. After lunch, I help with the dishes despite the dismissal words and play with the kids for the rest of the day. They seem to be genuine and Nania didn't drug the food since the serving bowl was on the table. Still, they could just be waiting for the father to return. One problem, however, is that I'm getting a little attached to them during this short time. Nania offered the guest room since it would be dark by the time her husband, Icho, got back. I had to take it to keep cover. Plus, a warm bed and meal and, perhaps, safety are something's to not pass up._

_As the day started to end, Rinni decided to make me look "pretty" for her dad that was to be home in a little. This is punishment for having long hair. I sit in her white room that has tacked drawings everywhere. Her little fingers yank my hair as she sticks another flimsy plastic clip in. I'm afraid to look in a mirror. A highly dangerous weapon is being treated like a giant Barbie doll…this would be funny if she wasn't pulling so hard. I've given up trying to tell her not to pull hard since she forgets what was said before. She doesn't know when he'll be here, so she's rushing while chattering at a hundred miles per hour. I can feel him, but barely. He should be here in five minutes or so. It's around seven and the small old fashion clock in the living room chimes a small tune. I think it's 7:15. A few more painful minutes pass until…3, 2, and 1._

"_Hey, everyone, I'm home!" a man with a baritone calls downstairs._

"_Daddy" Rinni gasps, stuffing in one more teddy bear clip, "C'mon Ana, we gotta show Daddy how pretty you are!"_

_Laughing, I quickly stand up and pull Rinni on to my hip. I walk down the stairs and into the warm kitchen. A tall man with brown hair holds Nania in a loving hug and picks up Kichi. Well, this will be a wonderful first impression._

"_Daddy, Daddy," Rinni calls from my arms, "Look! We have a vis…vis-…a guest!"_

_I place the squirming girl down and she bounds to the man. He that stares at his daughter's work on my head. I reply with a shaky smile and a shrug._

"_Oh, my," Nania says, covering her laughter with her mouth, "Rinni, what did you do to Ana?"_

"_Is it that bad?" I ask with a worried grin._

"_Let's just say, dear," she answers, "don't look in a mirror."_

_Shaking my clipped up head, I begin to softly dislodge the many plastic clips. Pretty soon, I have two handfuls of plastic clips that I set on the table. Massaging my abused scalp, I walk up to meet Icho. _

"_It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," I say with a bow._

"_Love, this is Ana," Nania explains, "I invited her to stay here for the night. She got lost on the way to the next town."_

"_Really, now," Icho says with raised eyebrows, "welcome to our home, young lady."_

"_Thank you so much for your kindness," I answer and bow again to both._

_They both smile in response and continue with what they were doing beforehand. All right, the father's home now. The fact that they can still pose an attack of some sort looms over my paranoid reflexes. My radar will be feeling out their every movement. If Sarah was here, this wouldn't be such a problem. Even so, I don't really sense anything negativity coming from them…my instincts are telling me it's okay, at least. Something as simple as that has saved my ass more than once. _

_We sit down to a hardy beef and rice dinner with an assortment of vegetables. Rinni, convinced that everything I do is right and cool, eats her vegetables like I do. She does it with a grimace, but she still eats them. Kichi, on the other hand, is a little more difficult. To get him to eat said food, I tell him could grow as strong as his dad if he cleans everything off his plate. That gets him to tuck into the veggies real quick. Dinner conversation is easy and I only tell them of some of the big cities I traveled to in the States. The least bit of information I give them the better for all of us. After helping Nania with the dishes and refusing her dismissal protests again, we all head outside._

_Kichi and Rinni run around after fireflies. Nania and Icho sit in chairs that are on each side of the doorway while I sit on the steps cross-legged. The kids take turns holding a large pickle jar filled with the light bugs so one of them can go and catch them. Smirking slightly, I shake my head at their antics. They'll have to let them go eventually._

"_Ana," Icho says with a serious tone._

_I've heard them quietly talking behind me, but didn't hear what they were saying. I knew this would come at one point. They are not stupid people and they are more experienced than the children. They notice the unusual. Some form of a confrontation has to happen. In other words: a come to Jesus meeting. _

"_Sir?" I ask, turning around to see the grim faced parents._

"_We appreciate you helping when you are an uninvited guest and entertaining our children, but I feel that leaving promptly is impertinent," he explains._

"_Naturally," I respond, looking back at the kids, "having me here hinders your lifestyles. I can see your children tiring. Surely both of you are as well."_

_A tense silent vibrates behind me._

"_I'm not here to cause any type disruption," I assure them, looking kindly over my shoulder, "On every bit of honor I have."_

_They seem to relax a bit, but the husband is still a little wary of me. I don't blame him. I'm still wary of him. They may be wondering on that last sentence I said. Most people that know who or what I am don't think I have much honor._

"_You are not with the Massacre Creators?" she quietly questions._

_The Hunters. I haven't heard that phrase used in a while. It's another name for the Hunters within the inhuman world._

"_No."_

_Silence continues to linger with bouts of laughter from the two young children._

"_For the benefit of both of us," I start, watching the children, "I will depart from your home early, before the kids are up, and will not come back."_

"…_Dear, what are you?"_

"_May I ask the same question and receive an honest answer?"_

_I hear her choke a little on her words or my retort. Either way, the conversation is cut short by Rinni waddling to me with the pickle jar. Kichi says that he would have carried it, but she wanted to show how strong she could be. There are tired circles under each of their eyes. They need blood very soon, but each of them seems to ignore it. We play a little more with the fireflies, until it's the kids' bedtimes. Running into the kitchen, I grab a terry cloth and my shoes._

"_Come with me you, two," I instruct, carrying the jar, "You'll see something really cool."_

_We wander a few paces into the woods while I cover the jar with the cloth. It seems that the parents still trust me. Stopping in a slightly wide space, I set the jar down still clasping the cloth._

"_Ready?" I ask with a grin._

"_Yeah!" he says, throwing a fist in the air._

"_Don't move when I let them out," I say, unscrewing the cap, "Just stay very still and watch."_

_I yank the cap off and the insects stampede out of the jar and create a huge glowing cloud of bug lights, spewing like a natural fire cracker. The kids gasp but stay still. Funnily enough, Kuran showed me this when we were little. It's still the coolest thing I've ever seen._

"_We have to show Mommy and Daddy tomorrow," Rinni whispers._

"_Yeah, this is great," Kichi whispers back._

_After a minute or two, I shake the jar upside down, letting out the last bugs and cap it. Grabbing Rinni by the hand, we head back to the house. Icho is waiting by the door and smiles as his daughter and son recount the firefly firecracker display. Kichi demands that they do it tomorrow. I give a sad smile at it all. Everything here is so simple and pleasant. I wonder where I'd be if I weren't an E-Shifter? Would I know my parents? Would I have even left America? Would I rather those changes? Shaking my head and the thoughts away, I enter the house and am shown where I'd be sleeping at. Nania tells me that Icho wants the door locked from the outside and I tell her that's fine. She seems a little embarrassed to pass on such a message, but I smile it away. That would be better since I have a few sleeping problems._

_I lay on the soft blue blanketed bed, falling asleep with one of Aries' Eyes with me. The next thing I know, Nania is knocking on the door letting me know that it's time to get up. My radar was on high last night, so I didn't sleep well. It was more of a daze where it looks like I'm sleeping. Something like that is equivalent to sleeping with your eyes open, I guess. Quickly dressing, I slip my Eye away under my long sleeved shirt and check my case to make sure I have everything I need. I moved the thing up here before dinner last night. Luckily, that was right before Rinni got a hold on me with her little plastic clips._

_Silently climbing down the stairs with my case strapped to my back, I enter the kitchen where Nania in a dark red robe stands at a counter fixing some sort of food. Did she look inside my case? If she did, she really didn't do anything about it. Easily sliding into the room, I study the bright yellow walls are barely lit by the old fashion oil lamp set next to the woman. I sigh loudly and tiredly. Nania jumps a little and turns to face me with wide eyes. She must not have noticed me. The numbers of people I can't sneak up on are slim to none. I offer an apologetic grin and lightly rub the back of my head. Not the best idea to move around silently, but I didn't want to wake the kids up. She hands me a bundle and I take it with both hands and a slight bow. This small interaction needs to be done with respect and caution. No matter the species, a mother is a mother and the instincts are always fierce. Icho comes behind me, moving just as silently as I was, but I turn to face him. We exchange nods and he takes another small bundle from his wife, gently kissing her goodbye. _

_Soon, we're both outside in the predawn mist. When we reach the bottom on the stairs, I turn and give Nania a bow bent from the hips. Some of my bright and dark locks fall in my face and I quickly turn around, not wanting to see her expression. Icho leads me into the other side of the woods where the kids and I weren't at last night. I walk next to him, not trusting him behind me and letting him know that I have no intentions on attacking him. My hands are kept in plain sight. He has a family to go home to and so do I. We walk for a while and the day starts to become brighter. The man stops at what seems to be a split in a path he has been following. He points to the left, the way to the nearest town. I had mapped out this way pretty well before the girls and I split, so I know that this is the right course. _

_He turns to regard my quiet stature, eyeing me curiously. Sending him a simple smile, I repeat the bow I gave his wife and take the guided direction. Starting at a brisk pace, I hear something akin to a thank you from behind and smile softly. This is the most I've smiled in quite a while._

* * *

Perhaps those two kids are disappointed that I didn't wait for them to wake up. That however is not within my necessary perspective, right now. Swinging the case onto my back, I start out again. The sun eventually begins to dip when I stop to drink some water that I have left over. Tomorrow will not be a good day, but Mondays usually aren't. Standing, my thoughts wander as I continue back. Kuran won't be happy to know that we've been doing activities. Grant it that we weren't breaking any of the truce proposals. However, this is going to put the entire coven on high alert. Why do I care more about this? It surprises me that I don't care so much about what Cross thinks. He is the one who decides whether we can stay there, despite what Kuran says.

Even after all these years, he easily comes back into my mind. Before, he never really come into my thoughts. Kuran did for a year or two after the incident, for lack of a better word, but now it feels like I'm worrying about him constantly. Obviously, it's because he knows too much and we have to interact every so often. This still shouldn't have me a little…well, nervous about these few interactions. Luckily, I can hide it from Kuran and other people, except for Sarah and the girls. Perhaps I truly do miss him. He was my first friend, despite what happened. Kuran was the first good thing that came to me and started the single thought process that life could be like that. Life could be happy with friends and without missions and death for no reason. One where I didn't have to take orders from the Hunters and their stupid reformation bull shit. Though, I know that we won't really be okay with each other. I suppose that I should be tha―oh great.

To the southeast, about a forth a mile from me, blood foxes. A pack of about ten perhaps less. Maybe seven. They're probably here because of the vampires at school. I'm not that far from school and the sun is well on the other side of the Earth. Flipping open my cell, I see that it's about ten thirty at night. I'll be able to bypass them easily. Besides, my flesh isn't on the blood foxes menu. Annoying suckers with regenerative abilities, though. I change my course to go hard east instead to simple miss them. After a little while, I turn back towards my original course. Hm, they're breaking into smaller groups. There must be something in the area around them. Why is one going off alone? That is odd. Stopping, I concentrate on that lone blood fox and the surrounding area. Oh, there's a Level E. That may be the reason this one ran off. It may some sort of first hunting thing or something. Most of the time, these things feed on Es and Ds.

Suddenly, there is a drop in my stomach and my instincts are yelling at me to get to that E. Why? There are plenty of Es running around in the…town. Wait a second, why would one be out in the woods? Scanning the signal again, I find that the E isn't moving anywhere. Wouldn't it want to go to the school since there are so many humans? The school…!

"Zero," I whisper and bolt for that direction.

Why would he be in the middle of the woods on a weekend night? Judging my distance from the two, there is a about a three thousand foot difference. I can't make it going this slow. Swing the case around while running, I remove Aphrodite's Mirrors and sling them around my hips. Tightening the straps of my case, I build energy in my legs and push them to move faster. He doesn't realize that even vampires have predators. At least some of the levels do. The best way to kill these things is to burn them, but I don't have anything on me. No burn grenades and no flame bullets. Not even Aries' Eyes will help completely kill these things. It won't matter if this one dies. What will is getting out the woods. Half way there! Seems the fox is moving in as well. Some slight movement from Zero's blimp tells me that he must have noticed it. Great, and the only he has is a vampire banishing gun. Like that's going to be a lot of help. Pumping the energy a little more, I cut about eight hundred feet out. Damn, that thing's about to lunge.

Almost there. Three hundred…two hundred…one hundred. I burst into the clearing; the silver haired guy fires his shot. The bullet hits the fox right in the head, but it doesn't slow it's momentum. Extending my arm with a Mirror held, I move to slice right through the jaw. However, I overestimate my speed and…chomp. I missed. The thing's fangs are digging into my forearm. I hear him gasp behind me, whether from the blood or my sudden entry. The scimitar drops to the grass with a thick thump. Blood foxes are always unpleasant. Black matted fur covered with grease and old blood from other kills. Its back is hunched with muscles on top of the forearms while it's about the size of a timber wolf, though a bit smaller. These creatures are very intelligent. It's been said that they're smarter than dolphins and velociraptors. Its yellow and red eyes narrow at me and I narrow mine back. The teeth sink in a little more. Some tendons are severed and I don't think I can use my thumb. There's no feeling.

Blood drops down its fur and on the grass. A crumpling sound close to acid being dropped on the grass sounds. The fox's eyes snap wide, realizing what my blood is beginning to do to its mouth. It tries to unhook its jaw, but I grab the top jaw and push it down while my bitten arm yanks down hard, snapping the jaw bone. It's hungry after all. Leaning my arm back to better angle the blood, I let the liquid slip down the beast's throat. After a good moment I drop it to the ground and let my injured left arm hang. I hear him choke on something. Turning to look at him, his pale lilac eyes are now pale red and glowing intently on my arm.

"Look," I say to him, pointing with my good arm to the still fox.

"Look!" I say louder.

He snaps his head up and to where I'm pointing. At that moment, the corpse beings to convulse and shake as though it were possessed. Ribs burst out of the flesh, twisting outwards and curled up like a dead insect or lily petals. The flesh turns black and the bones creak as the marrow is eaten away. The Hunters never did test our blood, but that doesn't mean that accidents and injuries don't happen in missions. We never told the Hunters anything. There are a few things we know that can die from contact with our blood and this is one species. The body stops and smokes a little, the grass withering around it. Silence engulfs the small area we stand in. A drop of blood drips of my hand and hits the grass, making it crumple and sounds like it hisses when no smoke rises. Throwing a glance at the guy behind me, I rip of my left sleeve and bind my arm the best I can. His eyes are no longer red.

Picking up my Mirrors, I sheath them and walk over to the silver haired teen. He continues to stare at the simple carnage. Hesitantly, I place my hand on his shoulder. He flinches and moves from me. A normal reaction. He won't trust me for quite a while if not at all anymore. It's no big deal. Yet, my gut says different. Whatever, it's time to leave. Blood foxes take the death of their pack mates very seriously, whether by natural causes or by someone else.

"Are you alright?" I ask.

He mutely nods.

"We have to leave. They travel in packs and are very vengeful to those that kill their pack mates. They won't be easy to shake off. And…I'm sorry you had to see that, but I had to find a way to sober you up."

"Why are you out here?" he asks, still looking at the corpse.

"Why are you? Neither answers matter right now. We have to leave. Some of them are starting to regroup and they'll come looking for this one."

We start off under my direction. There isn't anything I can do about our scents, so they will start to track us. Our best chance is a straight shot out of the woods. For all their intelligence, they won't leave any wooded areas in fear of something. Turning hard east again, we travel out some. I push my arm to my stomach, trying to stunt the bleeding while walking. Oh no.

"Run," I mutter to him.

Grabbing his wrist, I pull him along. I don't bother to tell him that we're already surrounded. He uses his vampire sight to tell me when to jump over a root, rock, or anything else in the way while I guide us from the pressing pack. We come to a dense patch of woods and I stop, examining a tree. The branches are thick and wide enough for both of us. We need a decoy.

"Hold on to me," I whisper.

He hooks an arm around my waist and I hook around his hips.

"Bend with me."

We bend our knees as I gather energy. Springing the energy in my body, we leap high in the trees. He grasps the trunk and I grab the limb. My sleeve soaks more blood. Concentrating, I create a dark shield around us, Zero tensing.

"Easy," I mummer, "They can't see us with this up."

Sticking my hand in the murky sphere, I pull a handful of my own aura out and shape it to a dagger. Doesn't mean they can't smell us.

"Hold still, I need your scent," I mutter, lightly rubbing the dagger on the back of his jacket, ignoring his stiffness.

Pulling the object to me I let some blood drip on it and fling the aura blade away from us. I hear grass get whipped up and wither somewhat. The blood foxes take the bait and split off into a few directions. They left some sentinels to the left. That should buy us some a few minutes. Ripping of my other sleeve, I wrap it around my arm, trying it with me teeth.

"Ready," I ask him. He nods.

Grabbing him again, we jump and a small bit of my energy cushions the fall for both of us. We start running again, and I hear the few foxes left leap on our heels. One of them lunges at me on the left and I throw up a harmless barrier that pushes the creature back. One jumps on the right and Zero shoots it, stunning the thing. The woods begin to thin out and we break through. I stop and grin at the pacing foxes and wave a little. Zero tugs my arm to run but I nudge my head to the two pacing.

"For some reason, they'll never leave the woods," I say with a small smirk, "Something about leaving it spooks them."

"What are they?"

"Blood foxes. They feed on Level E and D vampires and are very smart. They also regenerate very quickly."

"There are things that hunt vampires?"

"Everything hunts something."

He glances at my arm and I shrug.

"Miscalculation," I respond, "The more important question is why they are here? Because of deforestation, the packs that find a large patch of woods stay there. I don't remember them being there when I scanned the school the first time we arrived."

My vision becomes a little white and saturated. Oh wonderful, I'm about to faint.

"Listen to me, Zero," I try to say quickly, but my words are slurred, "I'm about to faint. Whatever you do, don't touch my skin until I'm awake again. Alright?"

Next thing I know, Zero's calling my name and shaking me. I must've falling backwards. My case is next to him and I feel a dull ache in my spine. Yup, fell backwards. He's holding my ankles on his shoulder.

"Ana, wake up."

"Uh, I'm up," I mutter, grabbing my forehead, "That's what I get for skipping lunch."

"Did they poison you or anything?" he asks with concern.

"No," I answer, sitting up and taking my ankles down, "Women are more susceptible to fainting from blood loss and I didn't eat since ten this morning. That's my fault."

"Think you can stand?"

"Don't know."

I gently get up and feel the world twist a little. Easily steadying my feet, I look at him and nod. Yeah, I don't think I can walk straight.

"Getting up isn't much of a problem," I tell him, pausing to pushing the bile away from my mouth, "Walking on the other hand, might be unfavorable. The injury isn't so bad, but I'm sure that fox cut an artery line and a tendon or two."

In effort to not be completely useless, I try to move my left thumb and a few fingers. Damn, my hand is unresponsive. I growl a little in irritation and unhook my swords with my right hand. Stumbling over to the case, I slip them in and shut it. Dizziness hits me with a bat again, and my knees bend a bit. Hands steady me from behind and I look up to his semi-stoic face. Wordlessly, he takes my case and swings it on his back. Then, he lifts me up bridal style.

"Whoa, hey!" I protest, "What do you think you're doing? Put me down!"

"Can you walk?" he dryly asks.

"…Maybe."

"You're injured; it's the middle of the night and we still have those things back there."

"They won't leave the woods. Not even if you get one foot in front of them."

"Just shut up and hold on," he snaps and starts walking.

Ass. I loop my good arm around his neck while pursing my lips in annoyance. I don't take help very much and I don't like receiving it. Some people think its pride. It's not only that; it's the fact that I'm not used to receiving help of any sort unless it's from the girls. It gives me…awkward feelings. By the time we get half way across the large field that separates the woods from the school, my thoughts click on something.

"Perfect," I mutter.

He looks down questioningly at me.

"I've got to call Rena and the others," I explain, "They're not going to be happy about this."

Moving my left hand, I try to slip my hand in my pocket to get my cell out. Failing at that, I take my other hand from around his neck and get the phone out. I use the speed dial and use his shoulder to press the phone to my ear.

"_Ana? What's up?" _Rena asks.

"Can you get the girls and meet me in the med ward? I'm a little cut up."

"…_What happened?"_

"Something that shouldn't be said in opened air quite yet. Wake up Cross and ask him to tell Kuran to keep a close eye on the Night Class. I'm…a little bloody right now."

"…_You are in _so_ much trouble."_

"Yeah, I know. Thanks."

Slipping the phone away, I let out a ragged sigh. We are so out of here. If Cross doesn't kick us out, Kuran will run us out. They can't really expect us to stay still and not run any circuits, do they? But it's only been about two months and we've already broken the promise we made to Cross. I knew the club was pushing it already. Well, at least Zero's okay, despite him being an ass. When we arrive at the quite school, Yuuki meets up with us and begins to fret over me.

"Yuuki," I interrupt, "Please, I'm alright. Zero's alright. But you might want to get the Night Class in one area. My blood will attract them."

"Are you sure you're alright?" she asks again.

"Yes," I answer, "I've got this big guy taking care of me."

I ruffle Zero's hair just to piss him off. He shoots a glare at me.

"I can drop you at anytime," he informs me with a flat voice.

"Yeah, but I'll take you down with me."

Yuuki shakes her head, eyeing us both with worried glances and runs off. That girl is always running around this place. Suppose that comes with being a prefect. We head inside the building and to the med ward. Sadly, it's on the second floor.

"Why are you acting so friendly?" Zero asks, keeping his gaze straight.

"Strange thing," I answer with a conversational tone, "For some reason, when I lose a bit of blood I become a little bit hyper and, well, get a high feeling. I don't know why, but it happens."

"…You're weird."

"Yeah, I know, but what can you do?" I answer with a shrug.

Walking down the quiet and dark hall, Zero easily manages the stairs.

"I'm sorry."

"What?" he asks, taken back by the random apology.

"You know," I elaborate, "For making this hard on you, and all. It's bad enough to carry me without fresh split blood."

"What you did to that fox thing was enough to sober me for a while," he mummers, "Besides, I should be thanking you for saving me."

"You're not going to, are you?" I ask with a grin.

"No."

"Ana!"

Looking down the hallway, I see Angelica jogging towards us. She leads us into the med room. All of the girls are here, along with Cross and Kuran. He sets me on the bed and moves to the side with the other girls.

"It's not a big deal," I mutter, undoing the makeshift binding.

Rena's hand smacks the side of my head and I let out a reflexive "ow". She mutters unintelligible words while cleaning the bites with water and then alcohol, to which I try to ignore. Evil brown bottle. Cross walks over to Zero and converses with him, no doubt as to how he got involved. Kuran sits in a chair near a small table placed against a wall, observing us. He's supposed to be watching his class.

"Kait, three bottles of apple juice and one bag of gram crackers," Rena orders, "Angelica, find me something to shift. Sarah, hold her down as best you can."

Each respective girl goes to their tasks, Sarah's warm hands pressing against my shoulders. I still need to talk to her about that family she ran in to. Kaitlin uncaps all the bottles of juice and has them lined up on the nightstand next to the bed I'm in. Angelica studies something outside the window. She crouches on the sill and leaps into the quiet darkness. The sound of a tree limb breaking echoes off the silent grounds and she returns with a large bough, keeping the heavier end outside on the sill.

"That'll do," Rena says, expecting the severed limb, "Thanks everyone. Ana, are you ready?"

"Am I ever?" I dryly ask, "Just get it over with."

Placing one hand on the tree part and another on my wound, pale blue light emits from her hands. She releases a long deep breath which is frosted a light blue and white mist. Searing pain rips through my arm and my body bucks in an arch. Sarah's strong hands hold me down. I hear the veins and tendons being forced together and my nerves nearly burst from the sensation.

"Done."

My skin still burns from the plant energy shifted into my body, but I relax considerable. Looking at the used and now blackened bough, Angelica lets it slip out of the window. The girls and I know what happens when it'll hit the ground. It will be one large pile of withered particles. The area where the bite wounds were is pink and tender, but completely healed and with no traces of scarred tissues.

"Thanks, Rena," I say with a smile, "Another clean job."

"Why did that hurt?" Cross asks with a concerned expression.

"When one E-Shifter comes so close to connecting with another E-Shifter's life-force, the natural thing for the body to do is to fend off the other energy," Sarah explains, handing me some juice, "We had to learn to push away enough of our natural defenses for Rena to heal us if we ever needed it."

I sip the juice, thinking I was going slowly until Sarah handed me another. They know me too well.

"So, what attacked you?" Kaitlin asks.

"Blood foxes."

"Why didn't you want to say that over the phone?" she asks.

"That pack wasn't there when we first arrived," I grimly answer.

"Are you sure that is what you saw?" Cross questions with a thoughtful look.

"And got bit by," I retort, showing my arm, "They were targeting him." I nod Zero's way.

"…Is there any reason to suspect the Hunters?" the headmaster asks, thinking more out loud.

"When they are around and know what is in their current location, yes, always," I say with a stone voice, "They could be trying to make a surrounding post. These creatures do not leave their woods even if they were on fire. I know you wouldn't put this school anywhere near blood foxes or any other vampire eating creatures."

"Headmaster," Kuran pipes in with a gentle voice, "It's late. All of you need your rest and I need to tend to the Night Class before they break away from their classrooms. Much has happened the last few days. Let's discuss this after some recuperation."

Polishing off the last bottle of apple juice, I swing my legs over and take deep breaths. Sarah grabs the box of crackers before rising from the side of the bed. Getting up, Rena and Kaitlin grab me on each side and we all file out of the room. Cross and Zero bid us goodnight.

"Ms. Rose," Kuran calls behind me, "A moment of your time."

Regarding the tall vampire behind me, I feel the others' tension beginning to rise. He has enough honor to not attack me right now. Not to mention he would be breaking the treaty. Gently shaking off their hands, I turn to face him. Sarah whispers she'll be around the corner to help me and I only blink in response. Once we're alone in the hall, I cross my arms.

"Thank you for saving Kiryuu."

Wait, what? That's what he wants to talk to me about?

'"You hate that guy."

"Hate is a strong word."

"And the correct one. Why thank me?"

"Though you may not know it, you have saved me from a wretched sadness."

Why would Zero matter to him? In fact, besides Yuuki and Cross, Zero doesn't have any other people to care about…him. It wouldn't be Cross. Their relationship is near to strict business and a little one-sided on family affection. That leaves Yuuki. I've never seen those two interact, but that's due to the time difference in the classes. It must be her.

"Yuuki would be sad if he died," I reason, "And you care about what effects her."

"Always perceptive," he comments, "Good evening."

"'Night."

Well now, this is a fruitful night. I know what his motives are for being here. Creating peace, though I still don't buy that, establishing a large and loyal coven to entrench himself in vampire society and Yuuki. The new question is, why her? I suppose this will have to wait until tomorrow. No doubt, after the report is given we'll be dismissed from the school.


	12. Chapter 12

Sat. back and very late, I know and I'm sorry to those who are still reading. The lines of excuses are too long a painful, so let's skip those. In case you forgot (don't blame you), it was Valentine's Day a little bit ago, the girls just got caught running a circuit and are beginning to unravel some of Kuran's plans for the Cross Academy. Oh, and not to mention that Kaitlin and Aido are an item now! Let's see how this goes now. I own nothing familiar.

* * *

Rena

Chapter Twelve: He did what?!

I shouldn't be doing this. I mean, I _really_ shouldn't be doing this. Staring in the bathroom mirror, I have the necklace Kain gave me. Every rational part of me is saying no, but I really want to put it on. If I don't get out of the bathroom soon, Kaitlin'll start asking questions and that will cause problems. With an annoyed huff, I clasp the necklace on and slip the cold metal down my shirt. I give. Brushing out my semi-long hair, I leave the bathroom and dodge Kaitlin as she dives in. She woke up late. There is something up with her.

I'm not sure where to pin it, but she seems a little on edge and off. She's been running into walls and she hasn't done that since I met her, which was a while ago. She always has a look on her face like she's trying to figure out how to start something, but I have no idea what. I haven't had the chance to ask Sarah yet since she just got in last night, but Angelica said that she noticed it as well. I glance at my watch. We need to leave in a few minutes.

"Kaitlin," I call through the door, "You have about five minutes before you have to run across campus. I'm heading out a bit early."

"Okay, thanks!" she calls back with a rushed voice, "See you in class."

Picking up my backpack, I head out and lock the door. I'm starting to think that Ana's right about Mondays being horrible. Every since we came to this school, Mondays have been really crappy. Perhaps it's payment for finding a place where we have a little bit of freedom. After all, we can be regular teenagers when it comes to school and Cross knows about us being E-Shifters, so we don't really have to worry about hiding that from anyone else important. I suppose we became another secret of Cross Academy.

"I can't believe I got detention with Kaze," Kaitlin mutters, dragging her feet.

"Well," I respond with a shaky grin, "You really wouldn't get up out of bed for anything. Not even when I said Aido was in the room. Bad night of sleep?"

"Something like that," she says, running a hand through her brown curls, "Ana's gonna be mad when I tell her."

"Tell me what?"

We both jump and turn around to find Ana with a questioning look.

"I hate that you can still do that," Kait says flatly to her.

"She got a detention with Kaze for being late," I inform, receiving a glare from Kait.

"Really?" Ana asks with a quirked brow and a glare, "Okay, but don't let that happen again. The last thing we need is for you to have school obligations interfering with our usual ones."

That was pretty lignite. In fact, that wasn't even a lecture but a reminder. I wonder what's up with Ana. She may just be leaving Kait alone because of the way she's acting, but I doubt it. Ana hasn't been back here long enough to really notice it as much as Angelica and I have. We take a seat on the hill we decide to meet at after classes. It's about halfway to the Hall, so we guessed here would be best. It's a sunny day in February and warm out, a sure sign that spring's settled in nicely.

"Hey, where's Sarah?" I ask Ana, just noticing that she wasn't here. They have their last class together.

"Library," she responds, "Takuma didn't give her an answer yet, so she's going to see if today's any different. Said that Kuran was still contemplating the proposal last time. I really don't think he'll take it."

"I'm not sure what we'll do," Kaitlin says, leaning her chin in her palm, "What they have going here isn't harming anyone, but we do need that information out of Kuran's hands. He's good at keeping that stuff quiet, but it will bring down fall to him eventually and everyone else here. I'd hate to imagine what the Hunters' will do if they found that out."

"If they're planning on attacking the school," I reason, "They'll find that info eventually. It's hell for them either way; one side of it just affects us a bit more and it's only more reasons for the Hunters to harm people that know us."

"We'll just have to wait and see," Ana says in a quiet voice, rubbing her injured arm a little. It must still be sore. Usually she takes off her blazer because she hates the thing, but she still has it on.

"Hey, guys," Angelica greets with a raised hand, "What's up?"

"Waiting," Kait responds, "Since Sarah's going to be a bit late should we go?"

"Yeah," Ana says, rising from her spot on the grass, "Kait also got detention."

"I heard," our ebony skinned friend says with a grin, "That's not like you, Kaitlin. Got something on your mind?"

"Oh, buzz off," she fires back with a huff.

Yuuki's whistle sounds and we hear her yelling over the usual crowd of hormone crazed teens. We have to pass by the Night Classes general path, but we usually get down there before the gates opened. I wonder why Angelica was late. I don't have a chance to ask her as we descend from our little hill. I'm a little worried, though. Angelica has one of those grins where she knows something is up and it's good, but still doesn't quite know what it is. This must have something to do with Kaitlin. Does this involve Aido's Valentine gift? I know she's been upset about that for a while. Does Angelica think Kait will try to beat up the blonde vampire? No, she's not that reckless. So, what is it? Kait can be such a closed book sometimes.

The crowd roars with fan girl screams and other shouts. I really think they need a life or something other than this. It's creepy. By the time the Night Class is almost all the way down the path, we cross over and try to get out of their way. What is Aido doing? He stops the entire procession and draws everyone's attention to him…more than usual. Kaitlin mutters something in a shaky voice, but it was too low to hear.

"Ladies," he says in a loud, commanding voice, "I have a terrible announcement for all of you. I'm a taken man now."

"Say what?" I ask, nearly dropping my backpack, "Why in the hell is he announcing this and who…? Oh, Kait, no way."

"W-w-what?!" she nearly screeches.

We all lock our eyes on Aido as he ignores the loud crowd asking who. He marches right up to Kaitlin, grabs her by the wrist and pulls her in front of the crowd. Oh sweet God in Heaven, he's not gonna do something stupid, is he? Kaitlin's too stunned to try and resist anything…I hope. Suddenly, he dips her back and gives the audience a wide view of their full fledged kiss. The entire student body is quiet. Ana slaps a hand over her mouth and the girls just stare with eyes and mouths wide open. Hell, so is mine. Is…is she…responding? Oh holy crap.

"Oh my God," we all say.

She finally fights back and only hits him upside the head and walks away completely red and flustered. We all stare at her as she comes back into our flank. What the fuck?!

"Care to explain, Ms. Rose?" Kuran asks.

Where did he come from? Oh, who cares! What in the world is wrong with…the world?!

"Loved to," she says, removing her hand from her mouth, but not her eyes from Kait, "If I could. Either way, this isn't violating the agreements we made, so I don't see much of a problem. I just…have no idea what to say to this, except: what the fuck?"

"Hm," the tall vampires mummers, "Agreed. We must be going to class. I shall see you soon."

"Yeah, sure," she responds with a dazed wave of her hand, "Whatever."

"Erm," I hesitantly say, "We should discuss this somewhere else…we have some unhappy fan people behind us."

I just started to notice the quiet roar of angry teens behind us and I think we should move before something really horrible happens. We rush off to the Hall, keeping Kaitlin in the middle. Once there, we slam the door shut and lock it. We only have some time here since we're just letting the students know that we have to cancel class today for certain circumstances. We all just stare at our curly headed friend in disbelief.

"Did that really happen?" Angelica asks, pinching her arm a little, "Ow, yeah. I knew something was going to happen, but holy cow."

That might have been why she was late.

"Care to explain?" Ana asks, crossing her arms and leaning her weight on one side, "Please, at least tell us you weren't for that escapade back there."

"No!" she defends herself, "That was _all_ him and he's grass for it!"

"As for the whole 'girlfriend' bit?" Ana continues with a quirked brow.

"U-uh, w-well, you see now…" she stutters, twisting her finger in a curly strand of hair.

We all grin at the poor, stuttering girl. I knew it.

"You totally did have a crush on him," Angelica states, pointing a finger at her, "and you accepted his offer from the Valentine's gift."

"Which means," I say as though I'm introducing a new product, "Ladies, the man-hater herself has snagged a boyfriend! When were you going to tell us, you evil-sneak of a friend?"

"I'm not a man-hater," Kaitlin snaps back, clenching her fists, "I hate idiots! There's a big difference. I was gettin' around to tellin' y'all…eventually."

"Yes, but most of those always seemed to be males…" Angelica explains, trailing off with a smirk.

"Well, I'm happy for you Kait," Ana says, "But I think you shouldn't wander around the Day Class students alone for a while."

Someone knocks on the door and Ana turns to unlock it. There is a line of some of our students with questioning looks.

"Sorry guys," she says as we all come out, "Class will have to be cancelled today for certain circumstances."

"Oh, is it because of Idol-sempei?" one girl asks.

"Originally, no" Ana informs with a weak look, "Though, it's been added to the list of his latest antic. Can you guys spread the word to the other students? We have to go."

"Oh, sure," one boy says, "Just be careful when leaving. Some of the Day Students look like they're ready to kill."

"We'll be sure of that," I answer with a grin.

We head off, keeping our little embarrassed Kaitlin in the middle of us. Sarah's gonna flip a switch when we tell her. I grin a little to myself at that thought. We head up the stairs to Cross's office and Angelica knocks on the door. After receiving an answer, we come to Cross sitting behind his desk with his usual grin, Kuran in a chair in front of his desk and Sarah standing next to the only empty chair. With a small huff, Ana takes the empty seat next to Kuran and pulls out the complied data from the weekend circuit from her backpack.

"Before we get to business," Cross says with a growing grin, "I heard here from Kaname that some strange transaction occurred not too long ago between one of your group members and a Night Class student."

"When did that happen?" Sarah asks, cocking her head to the side a bit.

She must have gotten here after Kuran did, so she doesn't know. In answer, Angelica offers Sarah her hand and most likely sends the best mental image of what just happened. Sarah turns to Kaitlin with a flopped open mouth and choked sounds coming out.

"Please, just tell me you didn't end his undead life," she stutters out after a moment.

In return, Kait gives her humph, crosses her arms and turns away, her face very red.

"This just got a whole lot more interesting," she mutters, rubbing a hand on her forehead.

"Headmaster Cross," Ana starts, using a business tone, "First, I want to thank you for understanding our reasons for disobeying your rules. Here is the complied data we have. It seems that there are only active Hunters here in this town. The other places that seem to have promise might have only one or two local ones and they are single people. Therefore, we can dismiss them for the moment. They may be called in for back-up, though the group established in town is so small that the measures of precaution are still the same. We'll be able to handle the numbers."

Cross flips through the data packet, skimming the written reports and glancing at the maps.

"Detailed work in such a short amount of time," he comments, "I suppose I shouldn't expect anything less. Would you mind if I show Kaname?"

Ana twitches and Kaitlin straightens her shoulders a bit. That would be a big "no", but we're in debt to this man. There's not much of a choice. She nods to him to hand the information over to the vampire. He takes it and easily reads through it as though it were a magazine. I suppress an annoyed sigh. It's like he's completely ignoring our efforts to make that. Oh well, I'm just defensive against this guy because of whatever he did to Ana.

"We'll be running the next circuit in the same areas," Ana informs the two men, "in about two weeks time."

"Alright," Cross answers with a nod, "Do any of you having anything you want to say or to ask?"

"I would like to send a few of the Night Class members with you on these circuits," Kuran says as he continues to flip through the data.

"What?! Where does he get the gall to ask that of us? We aren't working for _him_.

"No," Ana immediately says, "Vampires stick out among a crowd of humans, Hunters can spot them a mile away and they'll only slow down the outer rim runs with the different sleep patterns."

"I'm only trying to strengthen our truce," he responds, still looking through the data.

"The truce has plenty of strength," she retorts, "We haven't killed each other. I deny your request with or without Headmaster Cross's say. I'm sorry Headmaster, but I will not allow that. That request will compromise all of us."

"I agree with you, Ms. Rose," Cross answers with a nod, "but do not deny help with others tasks when the help is needed."

"Indeed, Headmaster," she says with an annoyed tone, "but do not expect us to receive it so easily."

"You are still put on the defensive when offered help," Kuran mummers.

"Some traits don't die out," she mutters back, "Headmaster, if you don't mind; we have some homework in need of attending."

"Of course," he says with a smile, "Good night ladies."

I walk over to retrieve the information packet. He hands it to me without even a glance. Pompous bastard. Snatching from his hand, I follow the girls out of the room. Kaitlin immediately heads off to Kaze's classroom, nearly running to not be late. This has been one interesting day and it's not even over yet.

* * *

The cool spring breeze licks my bare shoulders and bare legs. The moon is at half, only giving small silvery graces to the wide campus. The sky is randomly blemished with thin clouds. Hopefully, it won't rain too much later on in the month. I don't mind the rain, but I don't like staying in it longer than I have to. There have been many weeks wading in thick and nasty liquids. One too many jobs in the sewers. Now, the question is for this evening: How can we get that information away from Kuran peacefully if he doesn't take our offer?

As we discussed before, by force will be the utmost worst idea. Perhaps we can use Angelica's plan of holding Kuran still long enough to rummage through his mind, but somehow I don't think that will work. Angelica's very good at what she does, but we've never tried that on a Class A pureblood vampire before and this one is pretty strong. He already has mind wiping abilities. Most A's can't receive that until they hit at least the age of forty or more. I wonder how he got that. The fact that he has that ability makes me worried, needless to say.

Shifting my position on the tree branch, the necklace moves a little against my skin. It's amazing that Kait didn't kill Aido. Nice to know I'm right about that, at least. A smile still comes to my face after that escapade. Perhaps now that she and Aido are together, it might allow Kuran to agree to our request for a meeting. Though, the two very bad things that could be interoperated from this is the idea that we're using Aido to get closer or Kuran won't care either way. I'm kind of thinking the last idea is most accurate. I really hope neither of those is right. Kaitlin deserves a little happiness and a break from our normal reality.

"Is your bed defeating your purpose again?"

I look down and see Kain with his life aura strongly pulsing from him.

"That and it's a nice night out. Aren't you supposed to be in class?

"Are we really having the same conversation again?"

"Perhaps," I answer with a grin, "What's up with you cousin?"

"He's always been a little reckless," he answers, shrugging his broad shoulders, "Not that many of us really believed him when he said he was going out with your friend."

"Have you come here to confirm that?" I ask, swinging my legs a little.

"That would be part of it. The other part is the nice evening."

"Well, it's true," I answer with a small sigh, "Our little man-hater finally got snagged by a guy. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with it, do you?"

"As long as she doesn't kill him, not really."

"And if she doesn't," I answer with a laugh, "the rabid fan people will. They're seriously nuts here."

"Humans," he responds with another shrug and leans on the tree I'm in.

"Too true."

I lean on the trunk on my left and just listen to the natural nocturnal symphony. Being outside has always made me happy since my ability is so closely tied with life. Somehow, even for a split second, I feel perfectly connected with the world and everything is…right? Perhaps as it should be is a better term.

"What about you?"

My body jolts, nearly falling off the tree from Kain's sudden smooth baritone voice.

"Whatcha mean?"

"You seemed to exclude yourself from the generality of humans," he explains, not looking up at me, "What about you?"

Should I really tell him anything? Would he use this on me later? Would it be wrong to tell him nothing? The necklace shifts a little again, reminding me that there is something…nice about this guy.

"Well," I start, looking up to the semi-clear sky, "There are two reasons why I don't really fit in that category. That doesn't exclude me from doing some really stupid things or…humane things, I suppose is the best word for it. Bad acts of mercy would be another."

"You see mercy as a bad thing?"

"Only when someone shows it to someone that could come back and kill you or close ones later."

"What are the two reasons?"

"One is being what I am," I continue with a somewhat sad look, "I'm human in every way but for what I am, which sounds like a contradictory but it isn't if one thinks about it. The other reason is the fact that I was raised to kill without question, true purpose or reason. I can understand taking a life for survival purposes, which is personal gain but it's something all living creatures have a right to. All I did was meaningless killing or killing for personal gain. I'm so connected to life that it hurts having no reason to harm anything or even to save something. Saving a person that could and would cause so much pointless damage is just as bad as killing someone who didn't do anything. That is something I consider…horrifically mindless. Humans and other creatures wouldn't really do that without some guilt. They're self-aware and I was trained not to be."

"I keep forgetting that," he mummers, looking up at me.

"Forgetting what?"

"That you were a Hunter, and a special weapon at that," he replies with a slightly…sad look? I'm not entirely sure. "You're just so…happy and you smile every time I see you. Even when you were in this tree tonight, you had a smile on your face."

"I try to look at some of the brighter sides of thing," I reply with an awkward smile. I didn't know he watched me that much. How could he have?

"You seem so gentle, too," he says, still looking at me.

"Life and death can be both gentle and harsh," I reply, "I suppose just knowing this fact kind of separates me the general human group a little more. I might be a little too wise and perceptive."

Another silence passes between us and I start to become uncomfortable. I'm not used to people forgetting I'm a killer and being called…gentle. What the hell is up with that? There have been too many weird things happening today, so I think it's time to go to bed. Slipping quietly down from my branch, I land next to the tall vampire and wipe my hands on my shorts.

"See you later," I say and begin to walk away.

A cool finger slides over the back of my neck and I freeze, unsure what to do. His finger links on the chain under my shirt, but he doesn't pull it up to try and choke me. Coolness radiates at the right side on my face where he leans down some.

"Thank you for wearing it," he nearly whispers and pulls it out of my shirt so it can go over it, "You must have worn it for a while now since the metal is very warm."

No, that's my face heating up from this embarrassing situation. I can't reply to him. My breathing is so shallow that I'm nearly holding my breath. He lets go of the chain and walks away. I turn to see he has his hands stuffed in his pant pockets and his usual slow stride. Yes, today has been a very random day.

* * *

"With this battle on the turn of the century and with a new emperor coming into power, the Japanese army was unable to secure a victory."

I think I'm falling asleep.

"The current emperor wanted to control part of the continent, what is modernly called China."

Why? That campaign failed before it even got off the ground. The emperor was assassinated by him son. Geez, this guy is losing me. My head is beginning to dip down. Kaze is, by far, the most tiring teacher. He loads the students with homework and expects them to pay attention in his long boring lectures. A yawn wells in my lungs and I do my best to suppress it. This is my last class, so I just need to hold out a little more. The bell chimes and I stretch my legs. For once, Kaze's not giving us homework.

A month has passed, so March is warming things up nicely. All we've had were clear and sixty-five to seventy degrees days. We've even had club meetings outside. Surprisingly, activities have been pretty quiet. The blood foxes aren't really bothering anyone, the circuit was clear and no Hunter activity. This quiet life and silence makes me uneasy and jumpy. There's going to be something big coming soon. Karma works like that.

"Wait just a moment," Kaze says with a hand up, "There is one announcement I need to make. Next week is the cherry blossom festival and spring break, so there will be no classes all next week."

Say what?! The class cheers and whoops. This is so great! I forgot that this school centers the first weeks of blossoming season with spring break! Thank you Japanese people for loving cherry blossoms, thank you so much. That explains why Kaze hasn't given us homework today. It's Thursday and I guess he doesn't want to grade anything over his break and I do not blame him.

"Also, the Spring Dance will be next Friday night. It will be held by the Day Class this year, so if anyone wants to volunteer to help, talk to the student council. Dismissed."

Yeah, the girls and I have better things to do than going to a dance. That's the last thing we need. Gathering up my school stuff, I head out to the usual meeting spot. I wonder if we should have our meetings next week or maybe a party or something. That would be good for the students. Maybe I'll bring it up to Ana. I'm the first to come to the usual meeting spot and take a seat. Makes me wonder what happens when the Day Class is allowed to mingle with the Night Class? Perhaps Yuuki and Kiryuu will be working at the dance. I'd kind of feel sorry for them if they do.

"Hey, honey," Angelica says above me, "Hear the good news?"

"God is giving us a break?" I ask with a grin, "Or the fact that we're getting outta school for a week."

"Both, actually," she responds with her own grin and takes a seat next to me, "There are times were I'm thankful for customs."

I nod in agreement and watch the crowd below at the gate slowly grows larger and louder. It's so odd that I've gotten used to seeing these rabid teens here nearly every day.

"Think any of them will ask for a date for the dance?" Angelica questions.

"Who, the crazy teens down there? Maybe," I reply with a shrug, "I'm thinking that the ones that don't ask today will tomorrow and they'll have gifts to bribe them with."

"Having fun watching the annual sacrifice?"

We both turn to see Ana and Sarah walking up the hill. They both have smiles on their faces and I grin in return. Guess we'll all be in a bit of a good mood today. We're all up for extra sleep. They take a seat next to us, each sitting on their blazers. It doesn't make any sense if they want to keep their clothes clean, but I guess Sarah and Ana hate the jackets more. The usual screams break loose while I propose my idea for the party and the cancelation of meetings. Ana says she'll think about it and for me to run it by again when Kaitlin gets here. Apparently, she wants to stay away from the dangerous pack of hormonal teenagers for a day or two. Can't say I really blame her, but I wonder how she told Aido. She said that he knows that she's staying away from the gates for a day or so when I asked if the vampire would have his feelings hurt without her there. Always so sneaky.

With a sly smile on my face, we head to the Fight Hall before the rabid pack of teens notice us. Needless to say, because we're friends with Kaitlin, they don't really like us either. Once we get to the Hall, we change and wait for other people. Kait is already here and changed, looking a bit bored though happy. We grin at each other and being to ramble about having some time off. Nothing like having school to realize how much you miss the freedom from it.

"Hey," I start, steering the topic away from a movie night, "What do you think about having a party for the class next week instead of meetings? I think they would like it and we'd get our own sparring time."

"Y'know," she says, taping her lip, "That's actually a good idea. The teachers get a break from teaching so I think we should too. The students might really enjoy a party."

"Yeah, I brought it up to Ana and she said she'd think about it," I decide and tighten my shoelace, "Let's go."

Kaitlin pushes herself off the wall she was leaning on and we walk out of the changing room. Hopefully the students will still have some focus since vacation is less than two days away. The usual groups of early students (the few that don't go to the gates everyday) are chatting excitedly. I shake my head and start to look for Ana in the small mass. I know she's around here somewhere. That or she's in the office. I start to head back there when someone intercepts me. Chisu looks timidly at me and I smile to try and make her feel less nervous.

"Rena-sensei," she hesitantly starts, rubbing her palms on her legs, "I was wondering if I could ask you a question."

"Sure. What's up?"

"Well, I'm going to volunteer to setup for the spring dance," she continues, "but I looked at the list and there isn't anyone I know on it."

That's right, I forgot. Chisu has social phobia. She's doing much better since she joined the club, but these kinds of things move slowly.

"W-would you mind signing up with me," Chisu stutters, "You're the only person I know enough to ask this."

"The setup date is the same day as the dance?" I ask, feeling myself give in. At least I won't have to go to the dance.

"Yeah," she mummers.

"Sure, I'd be happy to help out. We'll both go and sign up after the club meeting is over."

"Really, sensei?" she says with a hopeful look, "You'll come with me?"

"Sure," I respond with a smile, "I may even convince the girls to come with me."

"I would have asked the others, but they seemed busy and…Ana-sensei is kind of scary."

"Yeah, she can be," I say with a smile, "But she's really nice and everything. I'll ask her."

Chisu gives a quick bow and walks away to join the rest of her group while I head back to the office. I find Ana and Sarah sorting through a few papers. It seems to be homework. Taking a deep breath, I walk up to her.

"Hey Ana," I start, "I have a question to ask you before we starting the meeting."

"Shoot," she says without looking up from her papers.

"Well…" I say, rubbing my neck, "Chisu wants to help set up for the dance and you know how social phobic she is. She wants to know if some of us can go help her out. She also wants you to come as well."

She and Sarah look at me with befuddled expressions. I shrug and tell them I'm going with her either way. Sarah says she'll go, but Ana says she's having issues with Kaze's homework from a few days ago. Somehow, she lost it in the mess that is her room. If she doesn't get it in before eight, she'll have to make up the assignments just to get a partially deducted grade for lateness. It would depend on the finding of the homework.

The meeting goes without a hitch and no late students. After everything is done, I tell Chisu that Sarah and I are going with her to help with the dance on Friday. She is very happy, to say the least, and tells us a good night. Shaking my head, I walk towards the office.

"I think next week will be interesting," Angelica says from behind me.

"I don't know," I respond, "I think it might be a little quieter on some of the days."

"Supposedly, people have to pay to get in to the dance. It's somewhere around the equivalence of ten bucks."

"It takes money to hold a dance," I say with a shrug, "I'm surprised it's so low."

"I still think this next week will be interesting," the taller girl mutters.

* * *

The girls and I have posted the time and place for the party. Apparently we made their week. Unpinning one of the signup sheets down from a bulletin board; I see that we will have enough food. Two days to allow them to sign up apparently was enough, seeing how the ten lines are full of names on each sheet. They're even bringing cups, plates and everything. The only thing we have to do is the cleanup I guess. We didn't have to get anything at all. I hear running down the halls and see Kaitlin coming near full speed towards me.

"Something's up," she mutters in English.

I run with her, stuffing the paper in my messenger bag. What could be wrong? We head up to Ana's room, the few students we meet part for us, murmuring questions about our sprinting. Kait opens Sarah and Ana's door and we see her pacing, Sarah wringing her hands and Angelica sitting on the edge of Ana's bed. I shut the door, drop my messenger bag and wait for someone to say something.

"Well, what's going on?" Angelica finally asks, "You have us waiting here."

"It's really faint," the short blonde mutters, "so faint that I want to make sure I'm not making a mistake. I've never felt something like this and I really don't know if my mind and senses are playing tricks on me."

"You're senses have never been wrong," Sarah states flatly, "Tell us."

"In a routine radar check," Ana explains, pacing a little faster, "I came across a very strange and familiar energy signal."

Odd and familiar? How does that happen?

"I…I think I found…another E-Shifter," she stutters.

She stops walking. Sarah falls back on to the wall and Angelica freezes. Suddenly the world is taller than me. My knees are on the ground. This is…absurd. I mean we haven't found any others before and the Hunters found us. How did this one…wait, is this one out of the Hunters' hands? I mean, it seems a bit too convenient for this new E-Shifter to be here where Hunters are looking for us. And the fact that one exists? Never mind the probability of six running into each other, let alone five. I shakily stand and find that Kaitlin hasn't moved at all.

"What do we do?" Angelica asks in a thick voice, "Do we investigate, make contact or leave them alone?"

"You know we can't leave them alone," Kaitlin whispers, "None of us would."

"Investigate," Ana mummers, "Now. He might not stay there for very long and it's a bit of a run."

"He?" I ask. That disproves the hypothesis that what we are being strictly made for a female body.

We all leave through the window, making our bodies blur with speed. Kaitlin runs up with Ana while Sarah and I take a staggered middle and Angelica takes the back. Soon, the clear campus becomes dense woods. The trees are thick enough to jump on and we start to do that. It lowers the possibility of being tracked. Suddenly Ana veers into a small area next to a stream and stops. Even from back here I can see the tracks the guy made. Apparently he knew we were coming. The tracks look fresh, very fresh in fact. He is probably only a few minutes ahead of us, if less.

"What do you want to do?" Kaitlin says, staring at the spot where he was, "Want to go after him?"

"No," Ana responds slowly, "He'll come back when he wants. We have his interest now. I just hope we can me without pulling out weapons."

"It would be great to meet another one of us without conflict," I mutter, leaning on my tree.

Ana contemplates the ground below her and gives a short sigh. That usually means she's come to a decision about something.

"Let's head back," Ana says, jumping on the ground.

She's letting him know how to find us. That could be dangerous considering we don't know anything about this guy. If he was from the Hunters, he could be a scout and only here to confirm we are here. If so, we're fucked. He could be harmlessly wandering around. There are just too many possibilities. The Hunter files would be helpful. Seems like Angelica and Sarah have another hacking job. We shouldn't tell Cross. He'll tell Kuran and more tension will start. We might be accused of something, which isn't doubtful. Ana jumps back into the trees and we start back. I suppose Angelica was right about this week being interesting. It makes me wonder and worried as to what will happen now.


	13. Chapter 13

Sat. back and very late, I know. Sorry for the lateness, but there was nothing I could do. Woders of wonders though, I got my hard drive of my original laptop to work today, which means I have my first chapters of everything I recently wrote. Yes! Anyway, Aido "announced" to the school that he and Kaitlin were going out and there seems to be another E-Shifter hanging around. What's gonna happen? I don't know, so why are you still reading the a/n note unless you want the disclaimer. In that case, I own nothing familiar.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: Between Bad Dreams and Feeding a Lost Cat

Angelica

So, the school announced that since the cheery blossom season started on time with the Spring Dance that the students could have the rest of the month and a half off instead of starting classes after that one week. Thank you, Japanese people for loving cherry blossoms so much that you gave students a long holiday for it and call it Spring Break.* Thank you so very much. The day has been pretty sunny so far, making it a typical spring weekend. After what happened on Saturday, everyone's been kind of shut up in their rooms, myself included. I've been lying in bed listening to the activities outside my window for a couple of hours now and its way past lunch.

Even after contemplating for a number of hours last night, I can't really figure out what is up with this new E-Shifter wandering around. Ana doesn't even know if he's still in the area. He just kind of disappeared off the radar. After a bad dream, I still couldn't come up with any logical action for us or for him. Usually, after a bad dream I have an incredible clear sense and use that while I can. Even if it's an unpleasant way to reach that type of clear thinking, I wouldn't trade it, despite this being one of the few times it has failed.

For once, I really don't know what to do. Sarah and I hacked the Hunters' files the last night right after we got back. Whoever this guy is, he's done a good job keeping off the Hunters' files. That or the Hunters know we hack their files and took out all of his information to try to catch us and this guy is an agent of theirs. He could also not know about the Hunters at all. What a miracle and curse for him. If we have a chance to meet him in friendly or non-friendly terms, I can at least search his mind for the information and Sarah can check to see if he's lying for the Hunters. There isn't really anything left to do, but wait and stay a little more alert. Now, the questions are: Do I feel like getting up and doing something, check on the girls, or sleep more? A knock comes from my door, temporarily answering my questions. I get up from my bed, not really caring about how the covers are situated and ask who it is.

"It's Rena."

I open the door and move to the side to let her in.

"Is everything okay?" I ask, sitting on my unmade bed. It's still a bit warm, much to my satisfaction.

"Yeah, I just need some help sorting something that's been on my mind the last couple of days," she mutters, taking a seat on the unmade mattress.

"Then it's not about what happened yesterday."

"No, it's something that happened nearly a month ago, but I can't really separate my thoughts and Kait is sleeping. I don't even know where Sarah is and Ana is…hiding, I think, from Kiryuu." She sighs, rubbing her eyes, which are swollen from lack of sleep. "You see, Aido wasn't the only one to give a gift on Valentine's Day. I didn't know what to do and I still kind of don't."

"So what? Did you get a gift or did you give someone else something?"

"I got something."

I wait for her to continue as she fidgets with her hands under her thighs and her eyes on her lap.

"Y'know Aido's cousin Kain?"

"The tall, quiet redhead guy?" I respond, quirking my head to the side, "They don't even look related…maybe you can say that from the hairstyle, but that doesn't really count."

"If you think those two being related is weird, you'll get a headache outta this," she mutters, slipping her hand down her shirt and pulling something up.

A silver necklace with a swirled blue jewel held by a silver circle. It doesn't look cheap, but that's not what's important. Her expression is. Rena's face is stretched with worry but also has underlying warmth to it and that heat isn't completely from embarrassment.

"I take it…Kain gave that to you on V-Day?" I ask, glancing at my blonde friend. She dips her head a little more, telling me I'm right. Despite her poster, I can't help but grin.

"So…you're worried about what could happen between the two of you and the interference on both sides?" I guess with a shrug.

"Give or take," she says and leans against the wall.

Naturally, I can understand the severity of the situation. I knew that if I were in her place, I would be thinking what to do as well. Well, there is only one real thing that is important at the moment in this situation. At least it is for me to understand and give advice.

"Do you know what your feelings are to him?"

Rena's soft face winces in the shaded afternoon light. She knew I would ask this question and that I would be blunt. She told once that my way of questioning is a sanction and blight all at once.

"That's the other issue. I don't think I can answer that without it being fifty-fifty for and against. I even made a pros and cons list in my head and it came out pretty even."

"All I can tell you, then," I reply with a shrug, "is to sort yourself out and I don't mean by being objective about it. Don't think about us or our survival. That has nothing to do with what your feelings are to him. Don't worry about our reactions either. Figure out what you feel and we can try this line of questioning again."

"You know that I can't think without being objective," she mummers back, looking at my window. "We're doing it right now and not even meaning to. The consequences don't even need to be said and I'm just as worried about Kaitlin and Aido as I am about my own situation. That's not even mentioning Ana and Kiryuu."

"You think something's going on between her and Kiryuu?"

I've been wondering that myself, but I left it alone. I know when not to push Ana's buttons and I wasn't going to say anything to the girls, unless it was important.

"They might not see it, but I can sense something between them besides annoyance. Since they met, they've been wary of each other but, at the same time, attracted to each other. I've never met someone so like her past self. Besides, you've seen how she goes out of her way to talk to him about certain other things."

"True, but that isn't something we can worry over," I say with a small wave of my hand to make it seem like I'm dismissing the matter. "What do you think about Kain? I mean, can you see yourself with him and mean it in a sincere way?"

"I don't know. Of course I can see myself with him in some sincere sense, but what person can't? He seems a bit too perfect, like everyone else in the Night Class. That's why so many people here have infatuations or die-hard crushes. I don't want to make a stupid move on a crush that could easily waft away."

"Not mentioning the possibility of rejection or being used for amusement," I conclude pessimistically, "I don't know what to tell you expect what I've already told you. Do you want to talk to the others about it?"

"No," she replies in a drawn sigh, "I feel bad enough talking to you about this when we have so many other important things going on. It seems so trivial."

"It's not if it's important enough for you to talk to someone," I respond and get up to sit next to her, "and you are in no way doing something wrong or stupid by talking about it. Thank you for letting me help you out."

She beams with a large tinge of sadness and confusion, but there is some clarity in her mind somewhere. Rena hugs me and I squeeze her back and give a small smile. She invites me to go into town with her, but I choose to pass and to let her be with her thoughts. She really doesn't want to be left with them, but she has to be in order to find the answers she wants. I've decided to find food, check the files one more time, and go to the Hall for some stress relief. I'll need it after looking into the Hunters' files and have the heavily possibility of not finding anything useful.

* * *

I hate being right sometimes. The files were clean again. An angry sigh releases from my lungs. This is bull. Aren't I supposed to be the one that knows almost everything? I use my key to unlock the Hall and lock it again when I enter. The windows let in a great deal of light from the late afternoon. There's no real need for the lights, then. I drop my gym bag gently on the floor. It does have some clothes in it, but it's mainly for show to hide Hermes' Howl. I can't really holster it in a t-shirt and sweat pants without the gun showing.

Surprisingly, the uniforms do a great job at hiding our weapons. The jackets do most of the work on that. I take ten minutes or so to stretch and warm up. My fighting style is a bit unique out of the five of us. Each of us has our own quirks to fighting, but my style is a little more…literally, down to earth. I spread my knees to a wide stance and pull my fists close to my face like boxing. Begin.

My fist hurtles in the air, and my leg moves with a heavy step. My fighting style, though I do have flexibility, is grounded and heavy. I don't like being moved if I don't move myself. My pace is steady as I knock down invisible assailants. Turning left, my knee slams into the gut of this imaginary person. Swipes, blocks, hooks, jabs, kicks and all other sorts of attacks fling out of my system. Out of all of us, I have the best stamina for long term fighting, but at running. Long distance is no problem, but sprinting is another. I hate running suicides and really do feel like I'm committing it.

I twist one leg up and use the momentum to throw the other in the air. In turn, that momentum again throws up my first leg. As I'm coming out of the spin, I haul my arm over and slam it downwards. I stop an inch from the floor and see a small glimmer of dust move. We need to clean this place before the party. I straighten and being to relax to release my energy. Just as I feel my breath change in my lungs, something happens and I freeze.

Someone is watching. The sense that eyes are drilling into the back of my head is a disgustingly familiar one. So they won't know that I noticed them, I being my cool down. The real questions that I'm worried about are what if they saw me practice and who are they. To seek them out would only draw suspicion, if I'm even right. Perhaps the person noticed that this is a fighting area and that I'm either a student or instructor for it. I suppose it's time for me to try and act like a normal student. Gathering my things, I decide to look for Ana. I continue my way to the Sun Dorms without looking around me or behind me. Once I enter the building, the feeling of eyes drifts off some, but I keep my steady pace. First thing in order to keep this person off is a shower.

I enter my room, fish out some new clothes and bring them with me to my bathroom. A sigh escapes my lungs. I really don't enjoy being watched by anyone. It makes me uncomfortable. After showering, I quickly dress and take in a steadying breath. Time to find Ana. I don't really want to alarm them, but I can at least check to see what it is that's following me.

Since there was no one at my room before me, it might not be serious or I could be wrong about someone trailing me. I come to Ana and Sarah's room and knock on the door. Ana answers it, still in her sleep clothes and Sarah in bed reading a book. Lazy bones. Perhaps Ana didn't have to run from the silver haired guy after all and Rena just wanted to talk to me. Shit, the window is opened.

"Hey, Angelica," Ana greets, luckily in English, "I kind of didn't expect you today."

"I figured I'd drop by and say hello. I've also got to ask you about a past homework assignment for Kaze."

It would be better to keep all our conversations in English as a first layer of defense. Keeping it coded would be the second incase whatever this is can understand English.

"Sure, we could probably help," Sarah says closing her book, "Which one is it."

"First, can we close the window? My allergies are acting up a bit today," I lie and take a seat on Ana's bed.

A small flicker passes on their faces. I'm sure that anyone else wouldn't really be able to notice it.

"Sure. I'm sorry they're buggin' you today," Ana says and shuts the window and bolts it.

"Keep face," I respond and lean on the wall, "I just came back from the Hall and felt someone following me. I'm not sure if this person saw me practicing, but they didn't see any energy. I came here to ask Ana if she felt anything."

Ana looks thoughtful for a moment, whether for keeping face or actually. She also leans on the windowsill to block vision. I hope this person doesn't have a sniper rifle or anything like that.

"I haven't felt anything out of the ordinary. If there's someone or something following you, it'll be either a human or an animal. I'm sorry I can't really help with that."

"I might be able to help," Sarah says, fingering a blue lock of hair, "If we can get to a pretty isolated area, I could sense them out with empathy. Although, even that will be tricky. Getting away from students is one thing, but we won't really be able to get away from animals. It would take a great deal of time for that and I'm not really sure what we're looking for."

"Hmm, then I'm not sure what to do," I respond.

Having this statement from me twice in one day is bad for my health. Uncertainty is something I loathe.

"Go ask Kaitlin, where ever she is," Sarah suggests with a shrug, "She might be able to sense something that we can't. If not, ask Rena. Whoever this is can't hide from us so easily."

"That's true. Where is our little love smitten friend anyway?"

"In the courtyard," Ana replies, "but I don't really know where Rena is."

"In town. She told me she was going earlier today."

"Hope she's okay," the tall girl mumbles.

"We can call her to check on her."

"I'll do that. You go find Kaitlin and hope you won't get scarred by her and Aido doing something," Ana says, shooing me out the door, "and good luck with your homework thing. Sorry we couldn't help."

"Yeah, thanks anyway. Maybe Kait has something for me instead. Oh, hey, did Kiryuu come by to bug you today? Rena said she couldn't find you earlier."

"Yeah, that pain in the ass still won't leave me alone. I had to hide in the hallway until he left this morning after we ate breakfast."

"Are you every going to talk to him?"

"Nope, just annoy the hell outta him," she responds with an evil grin.

All I can do is shake my head and begin my expedition on finding Kaitlin. She would be the better one to find for this mess. I take my time heading to the courtyard and talk to a few club member. Some have some questions about the party and I answer what I know. It's better to let this guy think I at least look normal. I pat one of them on the shoulder as he thanks me for telling him we don't care what music is played. I do eventually make it to the main courtyard. Where is this girl at? After looking for five minutes, I start to get annoyed. This area, though large, doesn't have that many people in it. I'm considering yelling out to her in English. After looking around again, I see her sitting under a tree with a book on her lap and a potato chip nearly to her mouth. Now the problem is talking outside. I guess I can just transfer my thoughts to her instead. Thank whatever created me for telepathy. How do people live without it?

"Hey, I've been looking for you."

She looks up at me with the chip half stuck between her lips. Her mouth widens and gulps down the fried food.

"What's up?"

"Nothing really, just some pain from Kaze that needs to be remedied," I answer, taking a seat next to her, "It's a homework problem."

"He can't leave us alone when we're on break?" she mutters flatly.

"Nope. Speaking of leaving alone, where's the walking ice cube?"

"Sleeping probably," she says with a carefree voice, despite her face turning red, "So, what can I help you with?"

"Well, I'm trying to find out a particular fact and I can't find it for the life of me," I lie, "Because I didn't have this fact, Kaze blew up on me through the comments on the homework and told me to redo it."

I rest part of my hand next to hers to discreetly touch it. I transfer the thoughts that I'm being followed by something and she would be the best to help so far.

"That assignment, the only about the emperor's failed takeover plan?" she questions, "Wouldn't Ana know it?"

"I just came from her and she couldn't find it either. Kaze didn't tell her to redo it, though. He must hate me or the fact that I'm taller than him and black."

She laughs and says, "The most classic excuses in the world: I'm blonde, it's because I'm white or Mexican or black."

"Hey, we're in Japan. Tall black people are just as strange to them as blonde haired and blue eyed girls are."

"True. How long have you been working on this?"

"Well, I went to the Hall for some stress release and realized that I hadn't worked on it at all and he wants it tomorrow. Perfect timing, right? I've been trying to find that damn fact since."

"Yeesh, what a pain," she says, rubbing the back of her head and begins to glance around, "I can't do anything without a book."

'Or being close to whatever is following you,' she relays mentally, 'all we can do is hope that this thing has some kind of abilities.'

"I know," she says snapping her fingers, "Rena would have it. I know she spent forever looking for it and kindly gave it to me, so I don't really remember where or what it was. Do you know where she is?"

"In town. I think Ana was going to call her for something though, so she might be back soon," I respond and lean on the tree.

"Guess we'll have to wait for her then," she says and opens her book again, "Or we could look for it or go find her."

'Is it still following you?'

'Yeah, it never left.'

"Maybe we could f―"

A ringtone plays from my jean pocket and I pull out my old Nokia. Huh, it's Rena.

"Speak of the devil," I say into the phone, "We were just talking about you."

"_Really? That's weird. Anyway, I found this shop where we could get dresses for the dance."_

"Hey, do you think you could answer a question for me then?"

"_Yeah, but when you get here," she replies with a small urgent tone, "They're having a sale and half the store is already cleared out. Ana and Sarah are already on their way. Do you know where Kaitlin is?"_

"With me. Alright, we'll be there soon."

"_Okay, and be careful."_

"You too. 'Bye."

"What's up now?" Kaitlin asks.

"Dress shopping now," I say getting up, and offer her a hand up.

'She may think it better that we all look at once,' I think.

"Cool," she replies and stuffs her chips and book into a small backpack that is more for show than actual use.

We head out, my gut still twisting uncomfortably and now I think Kaitlin notices our guest as well. I really don't want a fight, but at least we won't be on campus to do it. The last thing we need is another rule or two violated and the possibility of us being out on our asses to rise again. It takes us about fifteen minutes to get there just walking and the little stalker hasn't lost interesting in, well, stalking. The smaller question is whether this…current enigma will continue to follow us through the busy streets. Once we hit the main shopping area, the feeling in my guts fads to a bare minimum. There is also the possibility that due to so many people around me (it's busy here), I could have lost feeling of them. We eventually see Rena waiting outside a dress shop. The shop's name translates as Red Lace on the Blue Dress. Give or take, anyway.

"They have some cute stuff in here," she says, pointing to the store behind her, "I think we can find everything we need here."

"How far out do you think Ana and Sarah are?" I ask, looking up at the decorated sign.

"Well, she called me just as I got into the store, so they should be here soon," Rena responds, "Do you want to wait out here for them?"

"May as well," Kait says, "We certainly wouldn't of found this place if you weren't here."

"Alright. Angelica, Ana said something about you needing help with one of Kaze's assignments?"

"Yeah, there's a fact for the last assignment on the emperor that I can't find," I relay with an annoyed sigh, "He basically bitched me out for it in his comments and told me to redo the whole thing."

"Which fact was that?"

"Who assassinated him and the name of the faction that did it," I reply with a shrug, "I tried to find it, but it wasn't in my notes and I couldn't find it in my book."

"That's because it's not in the chapter we studied," Rena says with a small smile, "He pulled a trick question on us, or just b. us. It's in two chapters ahead, in the first two pages."

"…That's just stupid," I say flatly.

"Yup, but that's Kaze," Kaitlin says with a shrug, "What do you expect?"

I shake my head and we talk about setting up for the party for our club students. After a few minutes, Ana and Sarah arrive and we all head into the shop. I breathe a small sigh of relief. We are lead by Rena to some dress racks.

"Well, today certainly has been interesting," I mutter.

"Report," Ana says, looking at a dark green dress.

"The tailing has continued as far as I can tell," I reply to the order, "I lost a bit of the feeling once we hit town, but I still have it."

"I didn't pick up on anything unusual or abilities, but that's not really saying much since I need to be close to a person to pick up anything," Kait says, tilting her head at a red dress, "And this thing is ugly."

"I kept my senses opened, but didn't see anything either," Rena says in a soft voice.

"I didn't pick up on anything, considering all the emotions I had to pick apart in town," Sarah comments looking at a purple dress.

"My radar is clean," Ana mutters, "I don't understand."

"That makes two of us. My gut hasn't been wrong before, but it seems like I've gone crazy or something," I say, glaring at a yellow dress.

"No, you're not losing it," Kaitlin says, "You just seem to be more in tune with feeling people following you besides Ana."

"We'll just have to find a way to make this area a little more isolated," Rena offers.

"Perhaps on the way back, I could walk by myself and y'all can follow way behind me to see if there is someone between us," I recommend, "It may work."

"I don't want to leave to you to fend for yourself," Ana starts while a shoot a glare at her, "but I know you can. That sounds like a good plan, so we'll do it."

We putter around the store pointlessly for a while, commenting on some clothes and shoes and other random sparkly things that go with dresses. There are just so many things for one simple occasion. But since I wasn't exposed to this sort of thing, it wouldn't make that much sense. Oh well. After about half an hour, I tell them I'm going back to the school to work on my "homework". They say bye and they'll see me at dinner.

With a steady sigh, I walk out of the small town with my hands in my pockets and my head kind of hanging low. Now I'm just getting pissed. Who is it that's following me? I keep my pace while rubbing the back of my neck. I get about halfway to the school when the feeling of the thing following me speeds up. What? A patch of woods bursts with flying leaves and twigs. I bring up my arms to block the shower and come face to face with a male.

He stops for a moment, looking at me with wide eyes as I am to him. His clothes are stained and have worn spots on some parts. I can't really tell his skin tone since he's so dirt ridden. Wow, that's a lot of dirt then. His olive brown eyes lock onto my own black ones. Is…is he the one following me? He seems so frightened. A sound comes from the same wooded area and his head snaps back to look at him. Without another thought, the male runs off with incredible speed. What…just happened? Who was that? Should I…go after him? How in the hell did he avoid us?!

"Angelica!"

Rena runs up to me from the place where that guy came from.

"What happened?" she asks, a little breathy.

"I…think I just ran into my stalker," I reply and look to where he ran off, "but…I think he might have been the other E-Shifter that Ana found the other day. He looked like shit and like he hadn't had a decent meal in God knows how long."

"How do you know?" she asks just as the others come out of the wooded area. They must have taking different angles to pin this guy down.

"Do you remember the feeling of meeting one another back then? It was the same as that and I think he noticed it too."

"Noticed what?" Sarah asks, "What'd we miss?"

"Angelica thinks the E-Shifter we found the other day was following her," Rena says, "By her look, if the Hunters came in right after this guy, she wouldn't notice them."

That's true. I feel like the small push from a squirrel would easily knock me to my ass. The others talk about what they want to do and for once I don't pay attention. Seeing this other one in the flesh…has really hit me hard. I want to find this guy desperately now and I want to know that, even with my girls, I'm not alone. I want some reassurance in the world and now that more has been dangled in front of me, I need it even more. All these thoughts are selfish, but when there isn't that many of one's species out wandering about, one tends to latch on to whatever they can find.

"Are you alright?"

Ana looks at the same direction I am and glances once at me. My lips twitch in a smile.

"Just shell shocked," I respond, "and I'm sorry for not really paying attention to what was said."

"We aren't going to pursue him. He needs to come to us on his own terms and time," she says, crossing her arms, "If he does, we'll find out just what his intentions are. If they're neutral or positive, we'll offer our help. If they're negative, we destroy him right there."

I wince at the last statement. No doubt the others, including Ana, don't want to harm this guy in anyway. It's the first E-Shifter we found outside of the Hunters and the only male as well. These two facts are incredible by themselves, let alone looking at the odds in the population of, I don't know, the world.

"Sounds like fun," I mutter.

"Tell me about it," she mutters back.

* * *

The golden moon begins to run from the frothy pink rays on the other side of the horizon. The stars are becoming invisible again and the nocturnal creature clock out for the day. Pretty soon, the daytime ones will makes sounds, alerting the world that their jobs have started. I, on the other hand, had a nightmare. It was a pretty bad one. This one was bad enough to take away my clear mind after it. I'm unsure what caused it, but I hated the effect. There seems to be more of them affecting me now. I'm using my desk chair in front of the opened window. My elbows lean on the sill as I wait for the sun to rise or my exhaustion to take over. So far, the sun is winning. Though, I do wonder if my little stalker is still awake. He's been in the tree area, I think, since I came back. After all, I had "homework" to do.

I checked the Hunters' files again earlier, but in a different area. I decided to look under the reconnaissance mission documents. Sadly, since I used the databank so much recently, I won't be able to hack the system for at least a month. It'll cause too much suspicion. The only thing about E-Shifters in there was about us and no new or old or recent commands on the E-Shifters. Perhaps I should talk to this guy. If I show him I'm at least willing to be friendly at first, he may talk. Then again, I could make this more difficult if he attacks me. Ana didn't specify on how to engage this rogue E-Shifter. If he does attack, I'll just have to call them on my phone and pursue this guy until I pin him in some form. It's risky and stupid, but goddamnit, this is unfair! I rarely complain about life giving us shit, but this is a warranted time! So, that's it. I'm gonna say something. …Anytime now…where the hell is my voice? Or my guts for that matter? I clear my throat and take a deep breath.

"Are you going to say anything, or just hang out in the tree all night?" I comment, resting my head in one hand, "I know you're probably hungry."

Silence answers me, excluding the shift of night creature sounds to the day creature sounds. I huff.

"I have some food stashed in here if you want some."

Hell, I don't even know if this guy speaks English. I rummage under my bed for a moment and find a closed water bottle. I close my eyes and try to locate him, which doesn't work. Damn.

"Hey, I'm tossing some water to you," I say in Japanese instead and toss the bottle into the tree branches.

I don't hear it crash down below and I grin. So he understands Japanese or an owl caught the bottle with its head.

"If you want some food, I don't mind sharing," I say to him, "I promise I mean no harm. Believe me; I'm just as surprised as you are."

I wait for some long amount of minutes. I'm unsure if it's only thirty or an hour, but the sun is coming up faster now. Soon, the tree is shaking slightly with weight. The dark brown hair appears like a shadow in the branches and those same olive brown eyes look at me with caution, fear and curiosity.

"Good morning, I guess," I greet with a grin, "Nice to see you when you're not almost running into me."

He doesn't respond and stays still in the tree, ready to bounce off in any direction.

"I would ask why you were following me, but I guess I don't really need to know the answer to that," I continue. Not yet, anyway.

Usually, I don't do most of the talking. I reach for a bag of chips and toss them to the guy in the tree. A guy in the tree. This would seem so much stranger if I didn't already have strange experiences. He studies the bag, glancing up at me every second until he opens them and gingerly sticks his hand in. He takes out one chip and examines it, still glancing at me and takes a slow bite. After not choking on poison or keeling over, he quickly devours the rest of the contents.

"Got a name?" I ask, "Or do I just call you the random stalker guy?"

"…Inacio," he mummers in a deep voice.

Portuguese? What in the hell is a Portuguese guy doing in Japan? That explains why he doesn't understand English.

"You're from Portugal?"

"…Y-yes," he replies, holding the flat bag like it was glass.

"Then you don't know English, huh?" I mummer more to myself, but he nods anyway.

"How...how did you know I was from Portugal?"

"You're name," I respond with a shrug, "Your name basically means Ignite in English."

"Do you know Portuguese?"

He sounds kind of hopeful.

"I can read it better than anything else," I say with a shake of my head, "How long have you been on your own?"

"…Since I was six."

Ouch. Yeah, that always sucks.

"You were never picked up by anyone? Not even for your…special feats?"

A risky question, but I have to ask.

"No, I thought…I thought God punished me for some reason and did it by forcing me to be alone," he says, getting more comfortable on the branch, "I have found no one and everything I touch dies. This tree is only alive because I'm concentrating so much right now."

I nod and let this information sink in. I wish Sarah was here to see if he's lying.

"How do you touch people and not kill them?" he whispers.

"Years of training," I reply with a sad smirk, "I even learned to sleep without hurting things and I can repress my ability so much that I can even have people touch me through clothes."

We all used to have that issue. Even with clothes, we could still shift on contact. Ana only recently forced herself to do that when sleeping. That was about five years ago.

"There are more of…me?"

"Yes. Trust me when I say that we're just as surprised as you are."

"…God isn't…"

"Not that I know of. By the way, my name's Angelica."

His head shoots up, his longish brown hair flopping with him. Shear surprise laces his features and I just grin at him.

"You can't just call me that girl all the time, y'know. It get's weird after a while."

"I-I-I think I should g-go," he sputters and stand.

"If you want to talk again tonight, I'll be here. Good night, Inacio."

He glances at me and beings his shaky climb down the tree.

* * *

I told the girls what happened and they were, needless to say, completely hyper. Even Ana showed some exuberant emotion in her own way. She paced the entire time all of us talked and kept running her hands through her bangs. That's her way of talking really fast like Sarah was, just in her mind. We decided not to mess with what we already have going and I'm supposed to find out whether he knows anything or not. It'll be interesting. At dinner, I snuck some of my own food out for Inacio. It feels like I'm feeding a stray cat or something. I put the small pile of rolls and fruit on my desk and open my window. I have no idea when he'll be here or if he'll be here, so I'm just going to go to sleep. It's around ten at night anyway. After some adjusting movements on my bed, I feel myself drift to sleep.

_Bullets rocket from their shells to the targets that spurt red. Another magazine slams into the sliver firearm and takes down more noisy targets. The entire mansion is in chaos with children crying from their beds and others trying not to in hiding spots. Parents, siblings, friends and other loved ones bloody the floor where the small seven-year-old walks. She uses both hands while firing a substantial silver firearm. _

_The little child walks up the stairs, undaunted by the height of them and the bodies lying down them. To her, they're the usual décor. A tall person walks behind her, surveying her massacre with no response. A wounded man stands in front of her and her tall caretaker. He screams something at her, his eyes full of tears, but is shot in the head. His brain matter flings on his son behind him. The child didn't have time to scream or acknowledge his father's flesh. A bullet was in his throat. The girl and tall cloaked person continue down the hall, smearing with death it in no way adjectives or similes can describe._

"_You missed one," he said, pointing at the end of the hall._

_The small child complies and walks to the end where the walls and screaming fades. I see the little girl in the mirror while I hold Hermes' Howl. She raises it with both hands as I do. The red stands off her black skin. I hear the hammer click―_

I jolt up with my gun up without the safety pointed at what I thought was the mirror. Jesus, not another one. I slip the safety back and put Hermes underneath my pillow. That one wasn't a figment of my imagination. That was an actual memory. Whoever my "guardian" was that night did make me shoot the mirror. I bury my face in my hands and breathe my ragged lungs out. I rub my face for a moment and stare into the empty space before me. This shit sucks.

"An-Angelica?"

My head snaps up and to the window.

"Hey, Inacio," I respond and get up.

My arm twinges for a moment. I must have hit the wall or something. I sit in my chair in front of the window where Inacio waits like a scared animal.

"You…seem as though you did not sleep well," he comments.

I must look horrible.

"Yeah, I don't get sleep that often and when I do, it's not always pleasant," I say with a sheepish smile, "I do have some more food for you, though, if you want it. I got it from the cafeteria here."

I get up to get the food and show it to him. He examines it with calm eyes and asks me to toss an apple to him. I do so and place the rest on the sill. I need to get close enough to him to see if he knows anything about the Hunters. He cautiously ate the apple and I nudge the pile of food on a napkin closer to the edge of the sill.

"Angelica, why are you doing this?"

It's odd that he pronounces the "g" in my name like a soft "h", but it would fit with his accent.

"We're the same," I say in an obvious voice and shrug, "I'm sure if our situations were switched, you'd do the same thing for me and I'd be asking the same questions."

He nods and holds the apple core.

"Look, I understand if you say no to this, and I don't blame you," I begin and hope he won't take this the wrong way, "but I don't mind if you come in here. I know it takes a good deal of effort to not drain that tree."

"Y-you would trust me so easily?"

Not really. My weapon'll just be closer to me and I want to find out more about you.

"Right now, I trust you as much as you trust me," I reply in honesty, "I know that you are only coming here because we're the same, but that doesn't mean that you trust me on that alone. I trust you enough to talk to you, but have no doubt that I'm on my guard as you are. I know why you always keep one leg bent, even when sitting on the branch."

He looks at me with a surprised face, his round eyes widening and somewhat thick lips pursing. I smile at him in a soft way.

"I've been told I can be a bit blunt and rough with my words," I say in an apologetic voice.

"No, no, I…ah―appreciate it."

Seems that talking in Japanese this late is not good for him.

"It's your choice."

He sits for a moment, thinking about what I've said. I don't think I'll get close to him tonight. He shakes his head no and I tie the food in the napkin and toss it to him. I ask if he has anything he wants to talk about and he shakes his head again. I bid him good night and watch him slowly climb down the tree with one arm carefully wrapped around the small pieces of food. I close my window and try to sleep without murder in my mind.

* * *

a/n: Hey, I made it down here! Anyway the (*) was saying that the whole cherry blossom business is true. I have a friend in Japan who is going to school there for a full year and she got off for a month and a half, so it's not some convenient plot happening where they get more time…though it is useful. Man, I wish I could go to Japan.


	14. Chapter 14

Sat. finally back with a new chapter. The last few months have been a little crazy, but things should fall back into some consistent chaos I can keep up with. To recap, a new E-Shifter has popped out of nowhere. That alone will cause so much havoc. Time is closing in on the party and the spring dance. Let's see what will happen today! I own nothing familiar.

Chapter Fourteen: Trying to be Normal

Kaitlin

Anger and annoyance doesn't cover how I feel towards Aido right now. Even a few days after his announcement of our relationship, I'm still annoyed. How in the hell could he do that to me? Does he not get that, oh I don't know, fan people will now plot my murder? He's starting to fall under the stereotype for blondes, as much as I don't wanna say it. In reality, it's the embarrassment he caused that still prods my anger. Not even the pointless death glares I receive from some of the other Day Students annoys me as much as his actions. That's pride for you. My pen thumps against the desk where the supplies check list sits in front of me.

We've decided to host the party on Wednesday and to cancel all meetings for the first week of vacation. After that, all meetings will resume the normal schedule. The students were happy for this either way. I've already gone over this list six times. There really isn't any point. Checking and organizing this thing is my excuse to not see Aido. The truth as to why I'm avoiding him is because I don't know how to act. This type of…involvement is something none of us have done before. I've never felt like such an awkward teenager in my life! And I must say that I hate it with a passion.

With an aggravated sigh, I drop my head on the desk with a loud thump. Ow. How nonsensical is this? Here I am with the information that another E-Shifter has made contact with us and I'm worrying about how to act around a boy instead of another that is like me. Is this what's it's like to be like a teen? To worry about sillier, smaller things that will most likely last a few months and lose almost all concentration on the important things, like, I don't know, the guys that still want to either kill us or use us to kill other things? If so, teenagers are stupid. It's nearly seven at night. Angelica could be talking to the loose E-Shifter, whose name is Inacio, right about now…I think. Apparently, he does the smart thing and visits at night. Then again, he could have been scared off for a little while, but he won't leave. I know he doesn't have it in him to leave for so many reasons. Hell, if I was in his position, I wouldn't leave either. My alarm clock buzzes, letting me know that I have fifteen minutes to find Aido before his classes start.

I leave with a sigh, and drop the finished list on Rena's bed. She is over with Ana and Sarah right now, working on some fliers to post around school. After locking my door, I head out to the classrooms. After wandering around for a few minutes in the growing darkness, I catch sight of the blonde vampire near some cloistered woods that have been isolated on campus. I think this is where we first met, actually. Sure wouldn't be surprising if it was. He has his blazer undone and watches some to his right. With another shaky sigh, I walk up to him and smile.

"I thought that mindless staring was meant for the classrooms?"

He looks at me and smiles.

"I was actually noticing that Yuuki is over there doing her usual rounds," he responds, "Which means that Zero isn't far behind."

"Then we had better hide, or else I'll get sent back to my room," I comment with a grin and lead the way into the small patch of woods, "Though, I don't really think I need any type of protection around here, especially from vampires."

"Oh really," he muses, placing his head on mine while we walk, "What lies and slander you speak."

"When I say vampires, I mean the smart ones that know to leave me alone. You just won't leave and now you've tied yourself to me even more. How unfortunate for you," I tease my grin widening.

"Hmm, such a travesty you play."

I don't know how long this banter will continue. For now, it is a form of defense since I don't know what else to say. Surprisingly, the conversation continues easily. I talk about some of the places I've been to, mostly the ones where we didn't have to fight and he tells me about some numerous pranks he's pulled over the years. This must be the "getting to know each other" stage. It's so strange. Before I couldn't stand him and in a way, I still can't. Somewhere in the middle of all this, I found that I want his annoyance there; that, despite all plausible logic, I need his annoying and full-of-himself attitude. I have absolutely no idea why. Perhaps biology is telling me that I want someone of the opposite gender around me and he just happens to be the one I've had the most contact with at the moment that I don't quite want to kill.

"You seem distracted."

I glance up too quickly. That motion no doubt affirmed that I am a bit distracted. To brush off my last action, I shrug.

"You also seem a little worried about something," he says with a grin and leans closer to me, "Care to tell?"

"Not…really. I'm not the overly sharing type," I mutter back, not trying to hide my awkwardness. Which makes me wonder why the conversation, until this point, as been really easygoing. Though, I'm pretty sure that I can't get out of this questioning. My mouth has a damned mind of its own.

"Come on, I don't really know that much about you," he continues with a fake pouty face, "Why would you feel uncomfortable and distracted."

"…'Cause," I reply looking the other way and crossing my arms. My reasoning is flawless.

A chilled finger slips under my chin and he makes me look at him. He better not try that hypnotic shit with me. I will beat the unholy out of him.

"Please."

My gut clenches from the gently tone he used and I can feel my stubbornness wavering. I try to look away but he doesn't let me.

"Did you know that you are the first guy I kissed?"

Where in the hell did that come from? I sounded like a middle schooler regurgitating a fact for school. Aido is so surprised that he drops his hand. I immediately turn the other way to try and block out my own stupidity. When he doesn't say anything, I feel more words pressing my throat, wanting out.

"I don't―I don't know how to act like this. Not in this kind of contact. This isn't my element and I…have no idea what I'm supposed to do or how to handle it. I―ugh."

I slap a hand to my forehead and consider walking away. It's the only thing that makes sense right now. But since I really don't know if that's what I'm supposed to do, I stand waiting for him to say something. If he doesn't, I will leave. Two arms intertwine on my crossed arms.

"I suppose I am a very lucky man, then, to get your first kiss," he mummers softly, leaning his head on my shoulder, "As for not knowing how to act, I will let you know if you're doing something away from the normal code."

He chuckles in my ear, but I take some relief from his light, sarcastic comment. He most likely will let me know. Cold lips brush my cheek and Aido whispers a good-bye. If I was a regular human, I would have thought he vanished. Cool air still hovers over the small clearing and my clothes. With a small bit of annoyance, I head back to the dorms, uncaring if the two prefects find me.

* * *

It's party time! Huzzah! We decided that the party for the club should start at seven and end around ten to midnight. Cross was more than happy to hear about a party, despite the late hour we wanted to have it at. Kiryuu tried to have us reschedule for the daytime instead, but Ana shot him down by saying that is keeping away from the normal stereotype that most humans have about "grown-up" parties. Parties begin in the early to middle evening and end late. Cross took Ana's side (ha!) and would have Kiryuu complete the usual circuit around the school while Yuuki would supervise the party, aka watch out for vampiric party-crashers or anything else that might attack the school. She is there really to only sound the alarm to Cross and Kiryuu. Personally, they need more people to protect this school than just two, but oh well. Not my job, not my problem.

At first, we thought to have this party as a sock hop, but tossed that idea out the window. Some days before we posted the fliers, we had no idea how to protect the floor from people's shoes. Then we did some random searching in a store closet we missed when we first cleaned this place. After breaking the door down, we found lots of spiders, random mates, extra gym clothes and one very large floor protecting mat for the whole gym floor. To make a long, disgusting, dust bunny filled story short, the mat was in one piece and usable. In the end of it, we put a sign on the door saying welcome to the party and it's their choice if they want to remove their shoes. Some ensembles of clothes just don't work without the shoes to go with them, so they decided to give the students a choice. The girls and I have been setting up the Fight Hall for a while now. It'll be easier if we just get ready in the changing room after. The main reason for this: I've already spilt some chip dip on my shirt and I have no idea how that happened. Yay for klutziness. For some reason, I'm only accident prone around food. It's very strange.

The Hall wasn't able to get decorated with store bought decorations. We didn't have the money for it and the food was provided from the allowance of the kids' parents. Personally, I don't think it's necessary to have a lot décor. The sky is clear and it's a full moon, which can be used for ambiance. Instead, we found small battery powered lanterns that usually used for emergencies. Thankfully, Ana and I usually have large supplies of batteries for some of our game systems. Gameboys need double a batteries and that's what these lanterns take. Sarah has a home economics class and they are dealing with sowing for the moment. She was able to get different colors of sheer fabric, so we covered the lanterns with them and placed them all over the floor. Moonlit party! There is something oddly cliché about this. When we're done, we all stand at the entrance.

"This looks good," Angelica says with crossed arms and a grin, "The students that are in charge of the DJ system should be here about fifteen minutes before seven, so everything is done."

"Everything, but us," Sarah says, pulling on her old, stained t-shirt, "Now we dedicate thirty minutes to fixing ourselves up."

"And every last one of you needs it," Ana comments in a flat voice.

Aw, that's harsh. After a few more moments of silence, we all start laughing.

"Tonight will be fun," Rena decides as we walk into the changing room.

"It'll be something," Angelica mutters.

I just shake my head. She always says something like this before anything fun or weird happens. After a few years, one kind of gets used to it. Besides, it'd be wrong if something didn't happen that wasn't according to the general schedule. I open my locker and pull out my dark blue skirt and my dark yellow top with random white silhouettes of birds on them. I have a white tank top to go underneath it, since the yellow top is more like a hoodie. I place my dark blue flats on the bench in the middle of the rows of lockers.

Ana is dressed and done before any of us. She never wears makeup (she says it's kind of stupid because it wipes off so easily) and the only thing she has for jewelry, besides her usual silver hoop earrings, is a small band of black ribbon on her neck. It amazes me that she is able to make jeans look dressed up. She has her usual jeans on, her usual black studded belt and her shirt is made of a thin, off-white lace that buttons up all the way. She put some of her hair up in a small ponytail, but it's mainly for effect than purpose.

"You, my friend, are ridiculously lucky," I comment to Ana as she walks by.

"Why is that," she asks, looping her thumbs in her front pockets.

"'Cause you can pull off jeans in any setting. That is not fair," I mutter back, pulling my hoodie over my head, "You're a butt for it."

She simply shrugs and helps Rena tie the back of her black and purple-flowered dress. Rena is one of the few of us that can comfortably wear heels. She pulls on purple heels and braids the sides of her hair. She ties them to the back of her head, letting the tight braids come together.

"We might have some party guests arriving early," Angelica says, leaning on a wall of lockers, "A number of them seemed eager to come here. Yuuki is supposed to be here in ten."

I shrug and continue to adjust my skirt. We made a deal with Cross that Yuuki would supervise. He wanted Kiryuu to be here, but we told him that it would be better for the E to make the rounds since he was faster than Yuuki. The tall girl rubs her hands on her black slacks and pulls the shoulders of her draped red shirt down. Oh, she's decided to expose the tattoo on her left shoulder. The darker ink swirls around in a circle and in the center is a Sanskrit symbol with a large drop of liquid coming off of the end of the character. She still hasn't told me what the letter means.

"If they do, they'll have to wait," I mummer, "But will we have a particular visitor tonight?"

"Shouldn't," she replies, "I told him the other night that I won't be able to talk to him, but I would leave some food out for him on the sill."

"Did you leave your window opened?"

"Only enough for him to get the food," she says with a small frown, "I rigged my window so it wouldn't open or close anymore than that. The space can only fit a hand through and the stuff blocking it is way out of reach."

"It would suck immensely if the Night Class found out about him," Sarah says on the other side of the locker wall.

"It would suck if anyone, but us knows about him," I comment, "We can only hope that no one will find out."

"Or to try and create some kind of truce with the person that found out," she continues, walking around the wall in her loose red skirt, high black boots and plain black shirt, "aka, blackmailing them or us."

Too true. But our luck is horrible and I know that this secrecy won't last that long. It never has. With a puff of annoyance, I try to brush my hair down a bit before the party starts.

* * *

The music blast out in deep pumps. The party is nearly done and everything has gone well. We're almost out of food and drinks, so we won't have to worry about finding people take it with them. For the last hour or so, the students have been using a karaoke machine someone brought with them. What is it with the eastern side of the world and karaoke? So far, about five students have tried to convince me to sing something. I told them I sound like a drunken crow when I sing and that fighting is my thing.

Angelica and Sarah are dancing with Yuuki to a random Japanese pop song that some kid should not be singing. He isn't very good at all, but at least he has the guts to get up there and do it. After he's done, a girl goes up and tries to sing some random song in English. Also a bad idea. I can't understand anything she's saying. I laugh a bit and sip some Coke. Some people are trying to convince Ana to sing something in English. They've tried with all of us, but her.

Ana may seem like a cold, hard-ass, but she is really sweet and caring. Even from over here by the food, I can see her resolve failing her. I grin and shake my head. She's such a sucker sometimes. They push her to the guy in charge of managing the karaoke stuff and they "help" her pick a song. The group fusses around her as Ana just hands the DJ a title she wrote down on the request paper, effectively ending the argument the students started. The title pops up by the time she gets up on stage. She may have been suckered to doing this, but she will do her own song. "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse. Good choice.

She winces, but sings it anyway. The students go nuts. Well, at least she can sing to save her life. And I can understand it. Huzzah! Sarah and Rena jump up with her and start sing with her. The three sway side to side with the beat. Ana stops for a moment, but just for a syllable. She glances at me and then to the door. What? I put my drink down and walk to the door. The door easily opens and I slip out for a moment. The area is splashed with a silvery grey. After the blood foxes attacked, I've been a little wary of the woods around this area. So far, everything looks clear. Wait, there. Telepathy powers to the left. _Kuran_. He walks out of nothing in a white button up shirt and dark slacks.

"Here to crash?" I bite out.

"No. There is hostile activity around the campus," he calmly replies, "I must speak with Rose-san."

"And to check up on Yuuki," I dryly add, "To keep face around the students, tell me what's happening and I will tell her."

He doesn't move for a moment, giving me a would-be glare and my lips tighten.

"Do you really want them to get suspicious? They know that if Ana is worried about something, it will most likely involve something big. Give the humans a little more credit with that. They have that instinct left over."

"There are blood foxes attacking. They have surrounded the school and are moving on campus as we speak," he relays.

"That doesn't make sense," I reply instantly, "They have an incredible fear of being out in the open. Are you sure?"

"They have moved out," he insists, "Please tell Ms. Rose that she needs to do what she thinks is best for the Day Class and to keep Yuuki safe."

"Will the Night Class handle them?"

"Possibly."

He leaves without another word and the woods look a bit more dangerous now. That could mean no even if he didn't say it. On the other hand, it could mean yes, but I doubt it. I return to the party after locking the door. Shit, this doesn't make sense. What would drive them out of the woods? What could? Even if the entire forest was on fire and burning them, blood foxes would _not_ leave. Even with the large amount of vampires here, the foxes aren't stupid creatures (when it comes to hunting). By the time I reach Ana, I've gathered all the girls and Yuuki. With a motion of my hand, we go into the office. We make it seem like we're getting more food out, which we do need to do. I shut the door and the sound is muffled to where we can actually talk to each other.

"Some shit is going down," I say, "Shit that doesn't make sense."

"Explain," Ana says, sorting out sodas.

"Kuran just found me outside, though I know you know that, Ana. He said that blood foxes have surrounded the school and are _leaving the woods_. He said that they're hostile and he wants us to protect Yuuki and to do what is best to keep the Day Students safe."

"What about the Night Class?" Rena asks, putting a large bag of chips on the desk.

"He said that they could _'possibly'_ take care of the foxes," I spit out. What an ass.

"We have to help the other students," Yuuki says, clenching her fists, "We could split up and someone could stay here to watch these students."

"Yes, but I'm more worried about what provoked them out," Sarah mutters, "We need to think about this first."

"Well, Kiryuu is already on his way over here with no hostiles following," Ana comments, "But we need to look at these damn things to see what's going on."

"Do they really not leave the woods?" the prefect asks.

"Never in any record have they," I reply, "and we've studied records from the B.C.E. periods to modern activities. Something is very wrong."

"I will have to leave," Angelica says and no one stops her from leaving. She's going to protect Inacio. Hopefully, nothing will impede her or attack.

Yuuki looks like she wants to ask why she is leaving, but is handed food trays instead. We fix the food table up and Ana nods to me to get the front door. I open it and Kiryuu looks angrier than usual. I let him in with no hesitance. We walk over to where the girls and Yuuki are and the two prefects talk for a while (more like Yuuki yammering to the silverhead) and Kiryuu begins to talk to Ana. She holds up a hand to prevent him from talking and she looks to the door. Are they already here?

"I need to see if there is something influencing them," I hear Ana say, "But I'm a bit worried to."

"I will go."

"And get eaten?" she retorts, "No, you're at least taking different ammunition."

"Come with me, Kiryuu," I say and pull him by the sleeve into the office.

"Regular bullets won't kill them, but they will slow them down long enough for give you some important seconds or minutes, depending on how well your aim is. Please, let me see your weapon."

With hesitance, he hands over his silver handgun. It's attached to a chain inside his jacket pocket. Not a bad idea. Damn, my caliber doesn't match his. I give him his gun back with a sigh.

"I don't want to do this, but we're short on time." I pull Artemis from my left leg holster and empty the clip. These bullets were made for vampires. I take another clip from the holster and load it in, cocking it. Artemis still has the silencer on it. This bites big.

"Here, it has twelve rounds, so be careful with how many bullets you use on a target. I don't have another clip of regular bullets on me," I inform him while handing my weapon over, "Artemis has a bit of a kick to her, but she'll serve you well enough for tonight."

"Why do you have a gun?" he asks in a dangerously low voice.

"Why do you, dipshit?" I snap back. This is not the time or the place, "Take the damn thing and go."

He takes my weapon with a somewhat shocked face, but nods nonetheless. The E leaves the office and I rub my face. So much for a regular night. I really think Angelica jinxes us or something. Every time she says something like she did before the party started, something annoying and dangerous happens. I'm totally blaming her for this crap. The girls are sitting in some of the chairs we set out and Rena is trying to calm Yuuki down while she watches Kiryuu leave.

"Hunter activity?" I ask Sarah in English.

"That's the only thing I can think of," she says with a huff, "Those jerks just don't have lives, do they?"

"No doubt they would lose them if we weren't found in something that resembled one piece."

After a few minutes, Ana rises to leave outside and Sarah locks the door discreetly. That wasn't really needed because she opens the door right after locking it. She and Kiryuu come in and stalk for the food table. She is holding something. I can't remember Ana looking so angry before. I can almost feel her energy spiking off of her. A black strap of some sort is in her hand. Rena takes it from her and gasps, dropping it on the floor like its hot metal. I pick it up. _Oh my God_.

Images of rusty chains and thick cuts fill my mind. I feel myself hyperventilating, but control it. After so long, this thing can still do this to me. PTSD for you, I guess. This…this is something that was used on us. A mind-controller collar. The shorter version is called the M.C.C. There is no doubt that the Hunters are getting desperate. Seeing this…reminds me how cruel some people can be to other creatures.

"What is it?" Kiryuu asks.

"A device able to control any living or undead creatures," Rena whispers, holding her arms to her chest as though injured, "It causes the wearer to obey any order and the wearer is put in such pain that the only way to get rid of it would be to obey. They usually make the wearing insane."

Something wet touches my cheeks. I must be crying. It must be from too many bad memories being repressed. Not now. Perhaps later I will cry, but not now.

"This was on a blood fox," Ana says in a grated voice, "It has a camcorder on it. They must be looking for us and used these creatures as easy workers. _God damn bastards_."

Her fist snaps the device from me, clenching it with her white hand. The M.C.C.s were supposed to be banned from any form of activity…at least, after we were reined in and brought to obedience. It seemed as though we looked to human to the Hunters and thought it cruel only after we were subjected to it. Plastic and metal crunches. Ana's hand is still shaking and small slivers of blood drip onto the floor. Where I start to cry, she gets angry. Is that what it takes to make a leader? To get angry before you get sad so you can use that emotion to your advantage? I don't know. That must be why I'm not in charge.

"Kiryuu," she says in a low voice, "Shoot the collars off. When they aren't working anymore, the blood foxes will run back to the woods. Yuuki, find Kuran and tell him to follow the same order as Kiryuu if he chooses to help."

"I'm not letting her outside alone with these things wandering," he spits at her.

"Don't worry," I say, wiping my face, "They won't touch her. I will go with her."

Before any more arguments can break out, I grab Yuuki by her arm and leave the party to the dangerous area. I have her in front of me, leading to where Kuran is supposed to be. I know that I can't engage in any fights due to the possibility that the Hunters will use the blood foxes as mobile cameras. If they see me…

"Stay with me," I say and speed up a bit, leading her to the back end of the Night Class gates, now that I can see them.

"H-how are w-we supposed t-to get in there n-now," Yuuki huffs, leaning on her knees.

I wait for her to catch her breath and gage the wall. It's only fifty feet or so, so jumping it won't be that much of a problem. Glancing around the area, I don't see anything that might be troublesome.

"Are you afraid of heights?"

"No, not really," she replies hesitantly.

"Good, now hold on," I says and grab her by her waist. What a bad day to wear a skirt.

I jump and when we're about fifteen feet up, she starts to scream so I clamp her mouth shut with my hand, feeling her breath and voice vibrate my skin. Instead of waiting on the top of the wall, I flip in the air and go over it with Yuuki screaming in my hand all the way. She's a level A? We land with her nearly in my lap and I wait for her to stop shaking. I don't think Kuran will be happy with me, but he can suck it.

"Sorry, but we really don't have time to take the long way. Time is really important right now," I mutter, pulling her with me again, "You can yell at me later, if you like."

We rush up in the shadows, dodging any light from the moon. It's a low possibility that the blood foxes could have infiltrated this section, but a possibility is still a possibility. Finally, the front door of the Moon Dorms comes up and I immediately bang on the door, Yuuki huffing behind me. Someone answers it, a guy I don't know, and I shove him away from the doorway and enter the over extravagant dorm. Kuran comes to greet me. It seems that he decided to bring in most of the coven since a good deal of the Night Class is here. Instead of walking to me, he takes Yuuki and it's only now do I notice how frazzled and pale she looks. I mutter a sorry to her with a wince and Aido comes to me with a worried look.

"We have a problem," I say before Aido could start, "The reason why the blood foxes are out and running loose is due to a device that is used only by the Hunters. There is a possibility that they can monitor who the foxes engage with those things on, so the girls and I can't take these things out."

"Is there some central command for these things?" he asks, rubbing his forehead.

"They're wireless, so I don't know," I mutter with annoyance, "I've been out of the Hunters for too long, so I really have no fucking idea. I can't believe…that they're―"

My fist clenches and my energy starts to spike a bit. With a calming breath, I look up to Kuran and prepare to make an appeal for the Night Class to take these creatures out.

"Kuran. If the collars are removed, the foxes will run back to the woods," I start, talking to his back while he kneels in front of Yuuki, "I would rather not cut more losses in a dying species than necessary, but it is your choice. Sadly, you're the one calling most of the shots tonight."

He stands and walks over to me, coming very close to intimidate me. I look up defiantly, refusing to be scared or whipped by someone who doesn't hold any power over me.

"You should be more careful with her," he says, his body radiating coldness.

"We had no time and I gave her a warning, the most I could do at the time. She wanted to come here and I wasn't going to let her go outside alone with these things running around. And I am sorry for rushing her around, but there was little choice," I counter, "Would you have rather me given out position away for more Hunters to invade here? And don't say it's our fault they're here. You know that we're not the only reason why they're here…I don't think you will tell me what you will do about this."

With that wonderful amount of statements procured to all the vampires here, I turn to leave, shaking my head. In hindsight, coming here alone might not have been the best idea whether Yuuki was with me nor not. Too late now. I fling the front doors opened without any word from any of them. Technically, Kiryuu can take care of the foxes. At least, I hope he can. Nothing I can do about it at this moment and I've done all I can. With a huff, I start to the left and almost get back to the wall when a cold hand snaps on my wrist. On reflex, my hand hikes the skirt to reach Apollo. I almost remove my gun completely until I see its Aido.

"Haven't you learned to not sneak up on me?" I ask rhetorically quirking an eye brow up, "Especially with what's going on right now."

"I wanted to make sure you were alright," he mummers, uncharacteristically quiet and a bit timid.

"Ticked off, yes, but fine otherwise," I respond, holstering Apollo to my leg again, "Why?"

"Well…I know this is going to sound silly and a little redundant, but," he says, rubbing his neck, "I…don't want…you to get…hurt."

…Huh?

What does he mean by that? He can't be serious with that statement. Oh, when did my mouth start flopping like a fish? A well of laughter boils in my throat, but I don't think this is something I should laugh at.

"You should be more concern with your safety. After all, blood foxes like vampires as prey," I counter with a nervous laugh, "Though, since you're a higher level than what they're used to, plus you're surrounded by your coven, you don't really need to worry about it."

I turn to walk away again, but he doesn't let go of my arm. With a shake of my head, I turn to face him with my head down and take the initiative to hug him. He stiffens from some surprise, but returns the hug with more enthusiasm than I started it with. I suppose somewhere in his icy, vampire mind, I'm still seen as a human, despite my abilities. Go figure. Pushing him away slightly, I move his bright bangs, ignoring his confused face, and reach up to lightly kiss him on the forehead. Sometimes I forget that he has a lower body temperature than mine, but it's something I really don't mind.

"Promise, I'll be fine," I say with a grin, "I have to go, though."

"I believe that Kaname-sama will take care of these foxes," he mummers, not quiet letting me go, "If what you say is true, we should be able to prevent deaths on either side."

I nod and grin wider, ruffling his bangs. Before he tries to make me stay, I bolt off towards the same wall Yuuki and I jumped over a little bit ago, hidden in thick shadows. Was that something people are supposed to do? Hug and all that mess? I wonder if I did the whole comforting thing right. I'm not really the best person to do that. Lord knows how awkward I feel right now. It's odd having someone worry about me that am not one of the girls. Without hesitance, I bound over the wall and land on top of it to survey the immediate area. Noticing that there are no visible threats, I drop off the way and land silently. A metal hammer is cocked near my head. Kiryuu looks at me with sheer shock as he lowers my firearm. Guess I didn't see him. I move to stand and look around at the same time. If he's here, there might be some foxes running around. That would be very bad right now.

"What's your current situation?" I ask. Might as well get a good report.

"I have removed the collars from three of them without killing them," he responds, looking at our area, "You were right. When those collars were taken off, they had a look of absolute terror and ran for the nearest woods."

"Good. I think Kuran will help us now that Yuuki is safely in his hands. He owes it not only to us, but to Cross and the students to help out," I respond, noticing Kiryuu's grimace. He doesn't want Yuuki to be with Kuran or he doesn't want Kuran to help out? I'll bet money on the previous.

"Take care," I say, turning to where the Fight Hall is. "I need to get back to the students' party before anyone starts to ask why I'm gone."

With waiting for a reply, I dash off; taking the same shadowy route I did before, only faster now that I don't have Yuuki with me. I arrive back at the buzzing party with no incidences and take a moment to breathe before going back into the party. Reentering the loud and cheerful place, I scan for Ana and the others. Luckily, they haven't moved from the food table. I walk back over there and wave at Sarah, who waves back.

"Report," Ana says in English.

"Well," I say, pouring myself some Spite, "I brought Yuuki there with no problems. I don't know if Kuran will help, but Aido says there is a large possibility that he will. I told Kuran how to take care of these little beasts without killing them. I also ran into Kiryuu. He said that he took care of three of them with no casualties."

"Good," Ana says with a thoughtful face.

"On a random note," I quickly put in, "Kiryuu wasn't very pleased to know that Yuuki is with Kuran and I'm sure he doesn't want her around Kuran."

Ana hums a little at it and undoubtedly stores the information away for something else.

"We got a call from Angelica," Rena says, chewing on a chip, "She said she found him and convinced him to let her stay with him until this whole thing blows over."

"That's good," I comment, "Do you know where she found him?"

"She wouldn't say," Sarah fills in, "We think that if she relayed that type of information around him, he'd freak and run for it. She told us everything in Japanese so he would understand since he can't speak English."

"Always thinking," I mummer with a smirk. All that is left to do is to wait.

Time passes slowly for us, but the students are having fun with little to no acknowledgement of the activities outside. Ana took the broken collar to the office and no doubt put it somewhere safe until we show it to Cross. We're gonna have to show it to him whether we want to or not. It's getting closer to midnight and the other students are beginning to wind down. Perhaps it's time to send them back to their dorms.

"Attention everyone."

My head snaps towards the karaoke stand where Ana holds a microphone and waits for people to settle down.

"First, I would like to thank all of you for your efforts in this wonderful party. All of you deserve it after all the hard work you put into the fighting club. Without the students, it wouldn't be here. Secondly, the party will end in ten minutes and there will be instructions on how all of you will reach the dorm rooms. Thanks and continue to enjoy the last few minutes of the party."

She leaves the mic and comes back to where we are. Ana relays that we'll leave the machine up for another few minutes, so at least one or two more songs can get squeezed in. I guess we'll have to come up with some type of escort system. As far as I can tell, the students haven't noticed the commotion going on all over the campus, which isn't very surprising. Sarah has been watching the kids for a while now; though they don't notice it, and she hasn't really reacted in the usual ways she would when trying to control emotions. In fact, she seems very calm despite her vigilante appearance.

"Alright, since we're down one person, this will be done in two large groups," Ana starts without looking at any of us, "I want all of our cell phones at the ready in case anyone has to divert from the main route. Since we're trying to blend in here, we'll have to take the most opened and straightest path back to the dorms. I'm unsure as to whether we need to escort them to their proper sections."

"I think so," Rena comments, "If only to make sure the boys and girls go to their sides of the dorms. Perhaps we should wait in the main hallways of each and have Ana contact us if any foxes decide to take a tour of the living areas."

"That sounds good to me. I have a feeling that you'd want to go first, Ana," Sarah chimes in, still watching the students.

"Yes, I want Kaitlin to go with me and you and Rena to go together. I would rather not split us up, but this is the safest and fastest way to do this," the redhead replies and takes a swig of soda, "We can't draw weapons either; at least until the proper situation is handed to us or we find a way to make it proper."

"As in, the students are out of the way and the visual recording devices are inactive?" I pipe in while cleaning up the food table. We're most likely going to have to send some of this food and drink back with the students. Maybe we should just leave it here and have it as snacks later on during the year.

"Yup."

Some other students start to help me clean up the tables and some take the food and sodas into the office. Pretty soon, the table is collapsed and gingerly shoved into the office, where it was originally leaning up against a wall. The lights are turned on and the damage isn't too bad. Some trash and soda cups are piled in random corners, but nothing a few people in each area won't be able to clear in a few minutes, if less. Once the place is clean and the mats put away, we gather the tired students.

"Alright, here's how this is going to work," the redhead starts, looking over the crowd of students, "Headmaster Cross wants us to escort all of you back to the dorms. Usually we would have the prefects to help us with this, but they were called away to do something else. Therefore, it's imperative that you listen and stay alert. We will split everyone in two groups. The first group will come with Kaitlin and I and the second will go with Sarah and Rena. While traveling, I want as little noise as possible. We don't want to attract some animals that live in the patches of woods around here. The group needs to stay tight and between one of each of us. I also want people to partner up, two to two. We'll take the largest and most open path to the dorms. Any questions?"

"What's with the precautions?" one kids pipes up.

"Think about why we're not allowed after a certain time at night," Sarah replies, "There are wild foxes and possibly larger animals that live in the woods and are more active at night. We could accidentally wander into their territory and cause some kind of conflict. I don't know about you guys, but I would rather not get into a fight with a wild animal. Since the prefects aren't here, we'll have to do their job without them."

Even though we were gonna do it anyway. With no further questions, the kids split into two groups and Sarah evens out their numbers. I take a head count while Ana opens the door and checks to see if anything she can't sense is outside. Rena gives out four flashlights. I really don't want to use these, but we have to blend in. The one time I don't wanna be normal. We're lucky that the number of people here is thirty-three, though it would be better if it were thirty to have an even numbered group. Either way, we take two extra. Ana heads our group and I take the back. Guess there's nothing else to do but hope and start out.


	15. Chapter 15

Sat. back finally. Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? My bad. That's really all I can give y'all. Anyway, it seems that someone is moving against the school and now the vampires might have to become involved, too. Let's see what will happen. I own nothing familiar.

Chapter Fifteen: Wolf versus Fox

Sarah

The cool night seems eerie, like a video game about undead things. The moon is high, telling this side of the Earth that half the night has drifted away. So far, there aren't any blood foxes out and about and the students move along silently. Ana and I took the first group, which are all girls and are moving tenuously through the clear night. It seems that the normal humans know that something is going on that is out of the ordinary. Horrible things don't have to happen on a Hollywood like setting with the fog and the cold, wet nights in the middle of the woods or on a road or some random house. Horrible incidents can happen even on the best of days or nights. Seems as though the human girls understand this. Ana took the lead, being the radar and all, while I took the rear, doing my best to keep the girls calm. By now, Kaitlin and Rena should have left.

Some students whisper among each other, clasping one another hands tightly. I really do feel like a small wolf pack, now. I just don't like being hunted by something smaller than me. Then again, there is nothing that can help that. Sometimes, the Hunters are amazing. Now if they would use those amazing skills for something better than genocide. However, that probably won't happen any time soon…or ever. The group continues and before I know it, we're halfway there. So far, so good. Maybe Kiryuu is doing a better job than I give him credit for. Suddenly, Ana picks up the pace and we enter the building. We disperse the students easily, telling them to stay in their rooms this evening. This isn't the night to stalk the vampiric class. All of them seem to be a little worried, so I think they will obey for once. We exit back out to the moonlight.

"You sped up the last half," I state, following her, "Why?"

"Call Kaitlin," she replies, "Let her know to change her course to her hard left."

"How many?" I ask, flipping my phone out and dialing her number.

"Three."

"_Yeah?"_

"Turn hard left now," I report into the phone, "You've got three…" I look at Ana, who says in front, "in front of you. The girls are safely delivered."

"_Got it,"_ Kaitlin replies, her voice wavering from her sudden movement, _"I'll keep the line opened."_

"Right."

Instead of shutting my phone off, I keep it on, just as Kaitlin is right now. Without even needed to ask what Ana wants to do, I follow her. Either she wants to find Kiryuu or find that other group to better direct them. Suddenly, Ana tugs my shirt to stop me and a blood fox lunges out of the hidden shadows almost as fast as the bullet that hit the collar. It seems that Kiryuu has learned where the main power source is on the collar. Good, at least he learns quickly. The fox looks devastated that it's out of the woods.

"That way," Ana says pointing to the right, "That's to the woods. Run."

It bolts without a second glance to its surroundings and heads to where my friend points. I always wondered if they could understand the language of beings that have language. Perhaps the blood foxes can.

"Nice shot, Kiryuu," I compliment with a smirk, "Shows that you're at least competent with a gun. That's always nice to know."

The silver haired teen steps out from the shadows, looking every bit of a nocturnal creature whether he deigns it or not. His stoic face lands on Ana; no doubt he is thinking when he can ambush her with questions.

"What's your report?" she questions before he can do anything.

"I've got two shots left," he says, without much conviction to Ana's demanding voice. Perhaps he's smarter than he looks.

"Then there were seven all together?" I pipe up, "That's a pretty small pack. Then again, I'm surprised the Hunters caught as many as they did to collar 'em."

Ana looks at the ground thoughtfully for a moment and beckons Kiryuu to follow us. No doubt we're gonna intercept the last foxes. At least, I hope they're the last.

"Listen up, Kiryuu," my short friend says, "I'm gonna give you another bullet, and it's one you're not gonna like. We can't be seen by the foxes while the collars are still working, and we'll have to recover the last collar with the bullet I'm going to give you."

"What kind of bullet?" he questions, easily keeping pace with our jogging.

She smirks and I do to. "A homemade one," I respond for Ana.

I kind of had a feeling Kiryuu knows more about our abilities than Ana was willing to let on. Honestly, I'm not really angry about it. He just needs to stop asking questions.

After a few minutes of jogging, we suddenly stop behind a small thicket of trees. Ana takes Kiryuu's borrowed weapon and opens the magazine. With little concentration, she creates a black and red misting bullet from her energy and slips it underneath the last two bullets. She smirks at Kiryuu's astonished face and slams the magazine clip back in and cocks Artemis for him.

"Don't miss," I teasingly warn, sticking my thumb over my shoulder to where he's supposed to go.

He glares at me and takes his cautious, but sure steps around me and to the last foxes. Ana leans her back against a tree, a hand resting on her belt buckle. I lean back to, but keep my head turned to the direction he went. She closes her eyes and slowly pulls the leather halfway out of the metal buckle. Studded leather belts can make great weapons if one doesn't have any. The muffled "phew" sound rockets off once, then twice, and the third follows closely. Three young foxes bolt out the area towards the heaviest and closet area of woods. Ana nods to me and re-clasps her belt.

"All clear of foxes," I mummer in the phone.

"_Roger. Just made it to the boys' side of the dorms,"_ Kait replies, _"Do we sign off for now?"_

I look to Ana for instructions and she says to meet at Cross's office. I relay the information and Kiryuu comes with the last collar he shot, a bullet hole very evident, but the bullet missing.

"Thanks, Kiryuu," she says, taking the collar away from him, "Everyone made it back to the dorms safely. I think we should pay a visit to Cross."

He nods and leads the way.

"This is so weird," I mutter to Ana in English, "Why would the Hunters send something as weak as blood foxes here? Yeah, it would make sense if they were sent in town instead of here where there is only one thing they can eat here. Sure, they're easy to collar and manipulate, but wouldn't the damn Hunters have a larger and easier species at base, or something? Maybe they were hoping that we'd have to save Kiryuu if he screwed up or something."

"And by easier, you mean easier to raise and control? They sorely underestimated Kiryuu, then," she asks, "Yeah, they should, but they sent these things instead. Which leads to two blatant options. They're either running out of money and resources or the people after us aren't involved with the big league of Hunters. They could be a smaller, subgroup trying to make it big on the Hunters."

Oh crap. I just thought of something.

"Do you think we can stay here?" I ask in a near whisper, "I would really rather not leave."

"If we're too much of a liability, then I wouldn't blame anyone for getting rid of us. I wouldn't doubt it if we had to leave either tonight or in the morning."

That doesn't settle well with me. Man and they got an awesome library here, too. A sudden flash of Takuma's smiling face pops in my vision. Why did I think of him? Meh, it's probably because I always talk to him in the library. It's like he comes with it, or something. Like a toy that comes with a Happy Meal from McDonalds. We arrive at Cross' office before any of the other girls and Cross looks at us gravely behind his desk.

"The situation has been handled and cleaned up," Kiryuu says, going to stand near the window.

Yeah, the current one is. The one we're going to talk about isn't, though.

"Would you rather wait for the rest of your friends?" Cross asks, interlocking his fingers.

"No, they can be informed about the initial conversation later," Ana replies, her back stiffening, "Please begin."

"Ms. Rose, I know that you didn't mean to bring these creatures here," Cross says, leaning on his desk, "but you did, and by doing so, endangered every single person here. I know what blood foxes are and what they're behavior and eating habits are. What brought them here?"

She tosses the collar on the desk. This rocks Cross back on his chair, a look of surprise and disgust mixed evenly. Kiryuu watches the Headmaster's reaction carefully.

"So they still use these," he mummers, looking at the ruined device.

"Used to," Ana corrects, "They were banned and, supposedly, destroyed after they used them on us. Looks like they enjoyed this toy a little too much to get rid of it."

I feel Cross' heart drop as he looks at us. To try and make him feel better, I smile and shrug to brush it away. There really isn't anything he can do about it and I don't want his pity. The girls probably don't want his pity either. The door opens behind us and the others file in.

"Headmaster Cross, we completely understand if you want us to leave," Ana states, gripping her arms behind her, "We have brought unneeded hostility to your school and we know that we have become a liability and the longer we stay, the closer the conflict will come to home. All we ask for is a day to gather our things and leave."

"Who said you were leaving?" he asks, rising, "Who said any of you were leaving?"

Each of us looks between each other in pure confusion. Wouldn't, I don't know, common sense dictate that we should leave in order to keep this place safe and the school's secret safe?

"Are you saying for us to stay?" I can't help, but question.

"There is no reason for you to leave."

We all look at Kiryuu. Wait, he said that? Ana glares in confusion and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Explain," she demands.

"You've been running for half you life, right?" he starts, turning his pale purple eyes on her, "Stay and fight."

I choke a snort of laughter down. All the girls do, and even Ana fights with a growing smile.

"Yes, what a perfect battleground," she coos, insultingly holding her arms wide, "Indeed, a place where a coven leader hates me, and by hating me hates the others and that's not mentioning the human class doesn't even know about the existence of other creatures. Do you even consider the ramifications of showing ourselves here? There is too much at stake and I personally refuse to break up any semblance of peace here. That is not even mentioning the politics behind such a stand."

I nod wholeheartedly in agreement, as do the rest of the girls. Oh, wait. Angelica is missing. That's okay. She's probably still taking care of Inacio.

"And even if we did fight," Rena puts in, "Where would that leave us? The Hunters are a worldwide spread organization and we will always be a priority on the list. The only way we can get out from under them is if we destroy all the records of our existence, and I do mean _all_ of them. Do you know how many there are? A paper trail that old would take too long to clean up and that's not accounting for the medical examinations and experiment records."

"The only other way we could get out from them all together," Kaitlin continues, "Is by killing the entire organization or having someone from the Hunters allow us full access to every database and destroy our records that way. Who in the hell would help us with that?"

"You cannot just hack the system?" Cross asks.

"Thanks for the complement," Ana says in a low voice, "But even we can't get in there. Not without a little inside help. And before you say anything," she cuts off Cross, while picking up the broken collar, "no, you're not going to help. You have too much at risk."

"Then stay until you figure something out," he commands, a bright, almost moronic smile adorning his face, "Now go and get some rest, all of you and inform me if you have anything important to tell me."

I nod to Cross, happy with what we have right now and leave with everyone else.

"Jesus Christ on a cracker," Kaitlin mutters, "I just wanna go to bed."

"Go on, then," Ana says gently, "There's nothing else for us to do tonight. Get some rest."

"Thanks for Artemis, Black," Kiryuu says, hand back the silver handgun. She waves a hand somewhat uncaringly and secures the weapon.

Kaitlin and Rena nod and leave without saying anything else but goodnight. Well, now Kiryuu knows we're armed most of the time. Great.

"I'll call Angelica to let her know we're in the green for the moment," I offer, "then I'm probably gonna go to bed."

She nods and starts to head off with me. Kiryuu grabs her upper arm and stops her. Ana gives him an annoyed look and I feel myself reaching for a Tear. He may know we're armed, but he doesn't know with what or where on any of our persons.

"We need to talk."

With a huff, and pursing her lips, she nods. So Ana will actually concede?

"I won't be long and I have my cell, so call if you need anything," she says, shaking his hand off.

"Don't let him do something stupid," I mutter in English.

Ana winks at me with a confident smirk and walks away with the silver haired moron. I shake my head and take my phone out as they walk away. This has been an interesting week. I dial in Angelica's number sub-consciously while I walk to the library. This school, like most others, has really bad cell phone reception. This leads me to believe that people who build schools put them in crappy dead zones so students can't use phones. After the second try, Angelica picks up.

"Hey, we're in the green right now," I say before she says anything, "We also talked to Cross and he wants us to stay until further notice."

"_That's surprising," _she replies in Japanese, _"How is everyone?"_

"Ana is talking to her stalker, Kaitlin and Rena went to their room and I'm heading to the library. For some reason, I think Kuran might find Ana later on this week and tell her to leave."

"_Huh, wanna put a bet on how long it will take him to confront her?"_ Angelica asks no doubt with a grin.

"Five bucks says tomorrow night."

"_Five bucks says tonight before she finishes with Kiryuu."_

"Yeah, we'll see. He's taking care of Yuuki right now, so he'll be too busy with her. How's your guest."

"_Doing well. He's sleeping right now. Poor guy hasn't gotten enough food, so I let him have my whole stash. I'll have to refill it later."_

"Yeah, no doubt 'bout that. Anyway, the lines will be opened, so call if need be."

"_Right. See you tomorrow."_

"'Night," I say and close my phone shut.

Guess I can go to the library and decompress. Once I get there, I start to just wander, letting the words mesh to a strange language of nonsense. This is what I need right. Things that don't make sense make me feel better, but it can only be something like this. Words on paper that don't have to mean anything important. Eventually, I stop in one section and slid down the bookcase, a few spines digging into my own. How did this get so out of hand? My knees draw themselves up to my chest and I rest my head between my knees, arms wrapping around my legs.

With everything that's been going on with school, I can see how I forgot that I wasn't allowed in this normal place. Hell, I've had fewer nightmares here. Lord knows it's funny that I even considered staying here until I graduated. With what background? This is the first formal school any of us have ever gone to. Like I would even be accepted. If that acceptance does come, it's because I'm lying to the ones that accept me. Slivers break though my chest and hot, choked air builds up. My head leans back to try and repair the slivers. I look over to the end of the aisle.

"_Dad?" little Kizuna asks with wide eyes and a crayon drawing in hand._

I slam hard into the bookcase at an odd angle and try to move away from the boy that is gone a painful second later. Why did I just envision that kid? Suddenly, my hands and knees are shaking and something runs down my face. That's the truth, isn't it? My own mind just told me the truth of myself. The thing decided it for me before I could even think of the question. I will forever be a monster to other people and will forever have to hide. There is no acceptance outside of the girls. Honestly, this shouldn't bother me at all. But the tears come faster and my shoulders spasm from sobs. So, since I don't know what to do, I just sit here and let this happen. What's left for me to do?

"Wave-san? Why are you in the autobiographical section?"

Without thinking, I swivel my head to look up at Takuma. Nothing can stunt my tears or help my face. Confusion and worry crosses the vampire's face and he kneels next to me, making my sobs harder now.

"What happened?" he whispers, placing a cool hand on my shoulder.

I can't respond. Words drown in the back of my throat and are crushed before anything intelligible comes out. Truthfully, I don't know what to say because there is no real reason for me to be breaking down like this. So, instead I just shake my head.

"Please tell me."

Looking at his worried face, I stop for a second and wonder if he would accept me. I doubt it.

"It's just been a bad couple of weeks," I weakly say, my voice cracking through the tears.

Takuma gives a disbelieving look and sits down next to me.

"That isn't all of it, but I won't press you any longer on it," he replies calmly, "I will just sit here until you feel like moving."

What can I say to that? After realigning myself into the previous position I had, my tears slowly begin to stop. Never was much one for crying, even when I needed it. None of this was supposed to happen. Then again, nothing that I want to happen does, so something has to replace it. Slivers start to break my chest open again. With a grimace, I shut my eyes tight to try and block out whatever is coming up. Air comes in slower and hotter, limbs shake from something more than sobs. More calmly than I let on to be, I lean my head on his shoulder. All I really need right now is just someone physical around me. As long as I have something physical to compare to the mental images, the mental pain will go away. His cold temperature reminds me that the apparitions can't have temperatures. His arm loops slowly over my shoulders, almost asking. The action calms me down somewhat and brings me back out of my wretched mind.

"Sorry," I murmur, "It was just a little PTSD*, that's all."

"It seems more than just that," he replies, leaning his head toward me.

"It is, but it's nothing that can be helped. I take it you came here to either get a book or to talk to me about what happened a little while ago."

"Both."

I lean away and wipe my face off with my shirt.

"This turned out to be a bad evening," I laugh, "Every time Angelica says something is going to happen, it usual does. I swear that girl jinxes us."

"Are you going to be alright?" he asks, looking me hard in the face.

My hand waves away his concern and I smile brightly. "Nothing sleep won't fix. What does Kuran want to say?"

The blonde shakes his head and sighs. "He isn't very happy right now with what's going on. I don't really blame him, either."

"Blood foxes weren't our fault," I defend, holding up a finger, "Besides; we already told Cross that we would be more than willing to leave. He told us to stay and see what happens for now. That's why I'm still here. He'll have to take that up with Cross."

"Kaname-sama wants to talk to Rose-san soon," he replies, either ignoring my information or saving it for later, "Tonight won't be good, unless all of you are up for it."

"Does he want to talk tonight?"

"He does."

Let's think. Angelica has a sleeping, unregistered shifter in her room, Ana is off trying not to kill Kiryuu because of all of his questions and no doubt Kaitlin and Rena are either sleeping or talking right now. Personally, I really don't feel like dealing with anything that can talk back to me right now. Guess I'll make an executive decision.

"No, I don't think this evening will do it," I say at a length, "There isn't much we can do right now, anyway. Maybe just gettin' some sleep will be good for all of us."

…Crap, Angelica won our bet. I don't know why I bet against her sometimes. Perhaps I'm secretly masochistic.

"I will deliver the choice to him, then," he says, rising and offering me a hand up.

Out of politeness, I take it and get up. My legs tingle from a sudden rush of blood and I lean up to the tips of my toes to stretch my feet a bit. I move to take my hand back, but his tightens.

"Are you sure you will be alright?"

Why is he so worried? It doesn't really matter and I just bat the thought down. Without answering, I just flash him another smile and leave the library. There's nothing to do about it, and if his concern is linked to anything outside of this mutual liaison relationship, it will be cut down swiftly. I stop walking down the hallway for a moment, a thought striking up my mind. Perhaps that's why I'm taking this attack so hard. In the last couple of years, this is the longest we've ever stayed in one area and I'm actually getting attached to the place. That has to be it. I've never felt this scared since I had to attack Kizuna's family. God, I feel sick to my stomach.

* * *

Ana came back late and I was asleep when she entered the room. I woke up long enough to inform her that Kuran wants to talk to her. However, what time that was is still unknown. Well, there is one good thing about this little disaster. At least it happened during our break. I didn't tell Ana about my breakdown in the library. There's no real reason to. Since I got some sleep, thanks to some nighttime cold medicine, I've felt better. Days when I resort to drugging myself are far and few in between, but it was a bad night and I think I earned it. Last night I honestly didn't care if some Hunter stuck a bullet or two in my neck. All I wanted to do was sleep.

But today is another day, and with another day, I will continue. There is only real one thing I want in this world: freedom from Hunters. That's it. If I obtain that, I will get everything else I want in life. Right now, it's raining outside. I guess even here spring rains are random. The cherry trees on campus happily and carefully take in the falling drops, one or two of the early blooming flowers falling from the branches. We're supposed to go see Kuran in less than an hour and we have to meet at the front door of the Sun Dorms, which is where I'm watching this soft rain.

I've been thinking all day and I want to run something by the girls. I think we should find the information that Kuran has and leave. We've been stationary too long and we don't have the ability to lose the Hunters completely. Rain, rain, go away, come again another day. More like Hunters go away.

"How long have you been out here?" Kaitlin asks behind me and sitting next to me.

"Only about fifteen minutes," I reply, bringing my knees closer to my chest, "Why?"

"You're depressed. That or you have something really heavy on your mind," she says, leaning back on her hands and crossing her ankles.

"Had a bad PTSD moment in the library," I explain with a shrug, "That's about it really."

She raises an eyebrow at me and I just grin. "Yeah, I still feel a little down because of it and because of what happened last night," I continue, "But I'm doing better right now."

"Did you find someone to talk to or to be with?"

"Yeah, but you'll laugh or hit me if I tell you who," I nervously mutter, giving her a wobbly smile.

"Takuma."

My head whips around so fast that I nearly fall on my side. She said his name with such certainty and flatness. My cheeks flare up in a rush of heat before I can even notice the reaction. Kaitlin's face is flat and she waits for me to respond.

"H-how…?" I stutter.

"He's always at the library and so are you," she reasons, keeping her straight face, "No doubt Kuran sent him there to talk to you. Besides, you like to go to libraries for nearly any type of reason."

"I think I really scared him. I was crying when he found me. He looked really freaked."

"Well, out of all of us, you're the one to cry the least," she explains, crossing her arms. An impish smile spreads across her face. "So, do you like him?"

Now it's my turn to give her a flat look.

"I would ask how you mean that, but I know you too well," I grumble, sticking my tongue out, "He's nice to talk to, but we haven't gotten past the acquaintance relationship and it will not go past that. Not as long as I have to be a liaison between us and his coven."

"Yeah, I figured you'd say that," Kaitlin sighs, shaking her head, "But if something actually happens, do you think you shouldn't act on it?"

"I…don't know," I reply uneasily, "You and Aido have worked out pretty well, even though I'm still in shock from that." She glares at me. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't. Common sense would say that I shouldn't and the objective side of me is saying oh, hell no. But we won't really be able to say or debate how we should handle relationships until one actually happens."

Kait blinks at me and snorts. "Sweetheart, you just referred to yourself as 'we.' I'm not talking about all of us, I'm talking about you."

"Then I sure as hell don't know," I reply with a laugh and a grin, "but it will have to be something to talk about later. First, we need to placate a pissed off Level A that is too young for that kind of power."

"Hey, maybe if we're lucky, he might spontaneously combust," she replies, grinning at the hopeful thought.

"That would take the fun out of beating his face in."

We both turn around to find Ana with one hand on her hip, staring out the doorway. Rena comes down the stairs soon after Ana throws in her comment.

"Alright then," I groan and get up, cracking my fingers, "We're just missing one now. Where is she?"

"She'll meet us outside," the redhead replies with a tired look. Seems like Ana doesn't really want to do this either. I don't know when she came back to the room last night, but I feel asleep around two in the morning or so. I haven't really seen her since last night, which is strange. She wasn't there when I woke up this morning, but I could see that her bed was unmade.

"Anyone got an umbrella?" Rena asks with a sheepish smile, holding up her small, black one.

"Eh, I don't mind the rain," I say with a shrug.

"I do," Kait counters, latching onto Rena's arm, "We're close, right?"

Rena rolls her eyes at the short girl's poor joke and mutters that they just got a whole lot closer. Without word or warning, Ana starts out in the soft drizzle with no notice to the rain, her thick braid already turning a darker shade from the falling water. Kaitlin and Rena step out next, just a few paces behind Ana and I start out too. Holy cow, that's cold! It may be spring, but the rain still feels like winter! Shaking my head, I keep pace with the others. Angelica flanks me a second later, nearly appearing out of nothing but water droplets. She holds her small, brown umbrella close and brings me under it. It's too small for both of us to fit under there, but at least some of me will be dry.

"So, was last night okay?" I ask in a light tone.

"Erm, define okay?" she shoots back sheepishly, "He's alive and I don't think he will leave the area anytime soon. Does that count?"

I snort a chuckle and nod. "I don't think this will go okay, though."

"Don't have to be a mind reader to know that."

I press five American dollars to her hand with a somewhat sour face. Without saying anything, she looks at the currency and back at me. A grin splits her face for a moment and the ebony girl shakes her head.

We finally make it across the soggy field and the gateman opens the doors without a look to us. Guess he was told that we're coming.

Once on the stairs, Ana curtly knocks and rubs a hand over her face. Some random Night Student opens the door and frowns in annoyance. I glare back as he leads us in. Here we go. All of us are led into the same room we were in before when the new semester started. Kuran sits on his chair in a very relaxed manner, though he has some anger radiating from him. His little posy is around him, all very stoic faced. That's…not good. Everyone of them is really, really annoyed.

"Please, have a seat," he says with a dull voice, gesturing to the chair across from him.

"No, thank you," she replies with the same voice and points to her wet clothes, "I'd rather stand. What do you wish to speak of?"

"Last night's attack," he begins, closing his dark red eyes, "was inexcusable."

And we're at fault for that? I'd love to hear this logic. Yes, our presence brought those stupid Hunters here, there's no disagreement there. But what in the hell were we supposed to do? Plus, the Hunters could have made an attack on the coven. The creatures used were vampire eating creatures…though they would never attack a coven or one of this potential.

"That's a loaded statement," Ana replies, crossing her arms in an uncaring manner, "You may want to choose a side of that statement to give some clarification."

"This coven already has a tentative stance among these humans," Kuran explains, "It is to be noted that the blood foxes could have been sent towards the coven only, but your presence here brings their appearance into heavier questioning."

Did he read my mind? He has the ability to do that, but I honestly don't know how much he uses that trait.

"Grant it," she replies, still uncaringly.

A tense silence stiffens the air and Kuran audibly sighs, which makes most of his little posy looks at him for a moment.

"Look," Ana snaps, taking the initiative, "I'm sorry that these beasts came here, but it isn't anyone's fault; yours or mine. What the fuck do you wanna talk about?"

"The activity here has increased since you've been here," he calmly explains, linking his fingers in his lap, "I just want to make sure that all of you aren't stepping on tripwires or…continuing actions that draw in attention from unwanted eyes."

"So you make us come here to interrogate and lecture us," I state calmly, but lace my feelings with annoyance and anger and direct it towards Kuran only.

He doesn't answer and looks coldly at me. To return the favor, I give him my own frosty glare.

"To keep stability and peace on the campus," Ana interjects before I say something else, "I will happily inform you that we have done no other circuits or investigation, nor have we drawn any extra attention here. However." She snaps up a glare and her voice turns harsh. "You will not drag us in here thinking to use your prestige to intimidate us. We are not under any of your jurisdiction and we will not submit to it. With that said, Kuran, have any of you or your coven done something to provoke and entice Hunter attention?"

"You're accusing us of bringing those blood munchers here?"

Some random kid from the gathered crowd said that. I do my best to ignore the moron.

"I am merely asking the same question your coven leader put to me," Ana answers like a true politician, "And I would like an answer, though I will not force one."

"We have not, Ms. Rose. I suppose we should add a new course of action in our treaty," Kuran replies willingly. Does this guy ever display emotions? I can't pick up anything on him. "This rule, if favored, will apply to both of our separate parties. If one of us were to commence some action that would draw attention here in anyway, the other party is to be informed with general specifics of the operation."

"Would that mean that we'd have to tell you the reasons why and have a full open briefing?" she counters, ruffling her wet bangs, "Or are we to only inform one another of the basic actions and possible outcome of attention?"

"If there is no Hunter activity brought to the campus, only the basics and a proposed timeline, if it calls for such."

She leans on one leg and tugs on a lock of hair. Ana is thinking about this. She nods over to Angelica and without any more beckoning; she comes over and places a hand on Ana's shoulder. The two talk for a moment and Angelica motions to all of us. We make contact with one another, using Angelica as a mass phone between all of us.

"_It doesn't seem unreasonable," Ana's thoughts float in, "And we can at least establish basic communication against any other possible attacks."_

"_I don't like working with Kuran," Kaitlin angrily cuts in, "but he is in charge of them."_

"_It does seem pretty generous, considering who we're dealing with," Rena murmurs, "It's not a bad offer."_

"_Either way, we will still have the jump on this guy," Angelica reasons, sounding the loudest out of all of us. Being the one with this ability, she would have the most volume and control in the conversation. Control is the wrong word, but if she wanted to , she could kick us out of the conversation without breaking physical contact._

"_True," I agree at length, "I'm in."_

"_All in favor?" Ana asks._

There are three other agreements and we all break physical contact. One strange fact about thought-speaking: it only takes two seconds after physical contact to speak to each other. Thoughts move faster than words do.

"We all agree," Ana confirms, "Is there anything else to this meeting?"

"No, that is all," he says, nodding his head, "Thank you for coming out in this weather."

What a douche bag.

Instead of a reply, Ana just nods her head and turns on her heel, refusing to stay in this infested den any longer than is necessary. We leave the place quicker than we can and are back at the Sun Dorms before long. Everyone goes to their own rooms to change into drier clothing and we all meet back in my room. Ana changes into some pajamas and rubs her head down with a towel. I change as well and grab one of my towels slowly, thinking about something. I don't know why, but I have been avoiding asking a certain question all day.

"Ana, what did you and Kiryuu talk about?" I cautiously question plopping on my bed, "I wasn't even awake when you came in last night."

"I think I got back around five this morning," she says in a muffled voice, since the towel is over her head.

"Holy cow, why?"

"Erm…well, let's just say that Kiryuu and I have a better understanding of each other now."

Small, almost undetectable waves of embarrassment ripple from her. They're faint, but I can still pick them up. A grim rises to my mouth.

"Will you tell me?" I ask in a taunting voice.

"…Maybe," she mutters, revealing her face and ruffled hair, "but that douche did give me an idea. We can't and won't use Cross' Hunter access information, but we could hack it off of someone else's computer. We could use a Hunter computer and copy and paste an IP address."

"That way, when the address is traced, it will lead them to nowhere," I mutter, a hand on my chin, "Well, that could work, but it would take some time and another hacking job to see what new format they use."

She nods and undoes her braid to let all her hair dry.

"Man, you two must have had a serious heart-to-heart or something for him to give you ideas on the Hunters," I say casually, but in all honesty, I'm trying to provoke her to tell me what happened.

"Odd thing to say," she replies with no hesitancy, "considering his heart doesn't beat anymore."

I study the elder girl carefully, noting how her head turns away slightly from my eyes and her thick lips purse only a little. Nobody else would notice these small changes, but because Ana is so good at hiding her emotions, I've learned to read her smaller actions very well. And this is telling me that she is embarrassed beyond reason. Ana never has these types of reactions to a simple conversation. A wicked grin tries to rip past my teeth, but I push it back so not to bother Ana too much. If I bug her, she won't tell me for years.

"Whaddya know," I comment, swinging myself on my bed to lie out, "That silver haired moron can have some good ideas."

"Yeah, well those records we found in Spain said that he was a prodigy for the Hunters," Ana says without much thought, "He has every aspect they wanted in a new recruit."

"Until he joined the ranks he was trained to kill."

"…Yeah. That shit is so unfair."

I chuckle humorlessly and give her a knowing look. Unfair is reality's middle name.

"What do you think about acting on one of the plans to get the info from that bastard, Kuran, and runnin'?"

Blue eyes shoot up to mine in surprise and some confusion.

"What brought this on?" she asks, putting her towel down, "Don't you like it here?"

"Yeah, but…I hate to admit it: Kuran has a point."

She grimaces and nods, scratching the back of her neck. "That he does. I'm still wondering what is going through Cross's to let us stay here. That attack was meant to draw us out, even if it was poorly planned. Cross knows about the M.C.C.s, and the Hunters couldn't use that as information that we would know alone. If they wanted us to come out in the open by wayward knowledge, they should have used newer stuff."

"I'm leaving our staying here to the fact that Cross goes through the happier side of menopause," I toss in, shaking my head.

"There's a happier side?" she asks flatly.

"There is now, and it's him."

We look at each other for a moment. Laughter trembles in my gut and starts to move up, my face twitching to keep from letting it out. Ana has a slowly growing smile on her face. My ribs shake from restraint. I can't hold it. I burst out laughing and Ana's quieter laughter joins in with me. My lungs and throat start to burn, but I look at my friend to see her face turning red, face all lit up by a smile. We catch each other's eyes and start a whole new spiel of laughter.

"W-what wacky universe d-did we walk into?' she questions in a quivering voice.

"I don't know, but this is the most I've laughed in a while," I choke out, rolling on my side.

That comment wasn't even very funny, but we both need excessive laughter right now. So that's what we do, we laugh and laugh until we can't breathe while rolling on the floor or bed, unable to get up. After a few minutes, we both calm down and Ana shakily gets up from the floor and flops on her bed, still chuckling.

"As crazy as this place is," she huffs out with a grin still on her face, "I don't think we should confront them just yet. It would draw too much attention to the school when we'd leave."

"Point taken," I heave back, fanning myself with my hand, "but if he doesn't hurry up and agree to meet you, I'm gonna pop him in the head."

She hums in agreement and closes her eyes, a smile still splashed on her face. Soon, the redhead's breath begins to slow. I know she's not asleep, but she didn't get a whole lot of it last night/this morning. A gentle smile creeps to my lips and I turn off the overhead light after tucking my dear little leader in. We don't say this very often, the girls and I, but we really are family. We each take on all the roles of a family. We're each other's mother, father, brother, sister, cousin, aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather…we're everything to each other. Tonight, I get to be the elder sister or the mother. With sweet, tender thoughts, I crawl into bed and drift off to sleep. Maybe, just maybe this might be a place worth fighting for and planting my family here. Just maybe.

* * *

Sat. back down here again! The * above is to say that PTSD is Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, just in case some people reading this didn't know.


	16. Chapter 16

Sat. back with more vampire-y goodness. Things are heating up with everyone. Let's continue! I own nothing familiar, and if I did…I would probably still write this stuff. A small note: This one has an added, inside joke with my friends, so I dedicate this chapter to them and the horrible people out there in the world. Let's see if you can get what the joke is centered on.

Chapter Sixteen: Food and Ethics

Ana

Who knew vacations could suck? It's been about two days of quiet since the blood fox fiasco. In a way, I'm a little thankful that something like this happened. A horrible thing to say, but I never claimed to be a good person. With this distraction here, I can ignore what happened with Kiryuu after the attack. He has done a great job ignoring the event and hasn't really changed how he feels when he's around us, the few times he is. Plus, Sarah and everyone else have been too busy to concentrate on the few influxes of my emotions. They have, however, noticed that he isn't harassing me as much. At the moment, they're leaving it up to tightened security, which keeps him busy. I wish I could say what happened wasn't a big deal and that we were just having a conversation…but I can't lie to myself.

The girls had asked about what happened when Kiryuu hauled me away for questioning a couple of times, but they haven't asked me at all today. They also haven't seen me at all today, but I'm not counting that. I haven't told them simple because I'm doing my best to come to terms with what happened. I found a locked door that hides a staircase, which is where my hideout directs to. The ninja staircase leads up to the roof, which is where I'm hiding out now. So what if the door was locked. I'll pick it shut after I leave. Looking around the flat and gravel covered floor, it seems that no one comes up here at all. I don't see any footprints or any marks of bags, chairs or anything. Later on, I'll have to bring a towel up here and a book. Kiryuu's scowling face pops in my head. My palm meets my forehead hard and gives some kind of satisfying smacking noise. Personally, the hit isn't hard enough.

* * *

_Kiryuu grabs my arm and I turn to look at him, feeling Sarah tense up behind me._

"_We need to talk."_

_Crap. With a huff and pursed lips, I nod. Why not? I won't be able to outrun him forever and he kind of does deserve some answers. Kinda. Too much has happened and now he feels more threatened than ever. Some solid knowledge will calm him down and get him off my back a bit more._

"_Don't let him do anything stupid," Sarah warns in English._

_My response is a smirk. I wriggle my arm free and follow him down the single living dorms. We come to a nondescript door in the middle of the hallway. He opens it and comes in the room, holding the door open for me. Cautiously, I come in and look around the dark room. A faint light comes from the bathroom area where there is just a sink and a mirror. The curtain is drawn over the window, blurring out anything from the room. The bed is made up and looks as though it was someone has only laid on it or sat on it. _

"_I take it you don't chill out much in here," I comment without much thought and hear the door shut and lock behind me._

_Great. Locked doors and dark rooms aren't always a good thing. He walks past me and takes a seat on the bed, proving my point that he doesn't really sleep on the bed. And he claims to not be a vampire. This room is stupidly dark and, though vampires do need sleep, they don't need it often._

"_What do you want?" I snap, glaring at him, "It's been a really long day and I wanna go to sleep."_

"_Are you willing to tell me anything?" he murmurs, looking very tired and somewhat submissive…or emo._

"_Do you really have to ask a question you already know the answer to?" I reply, walking up to him, "You seem to do that a lot. Almost as though it makes you feel better. What else do you want to know?"_

"_What will you tell me?"_

_I shrug, honestly not sure what I would tell him. Naturally, I wouldn't tell him things that would compromise either of us. At the moment, he's done nothing to incur my wrath. So far._

"_You mind if I ask a question?" I say, a thought popping in my mind. He shrugs, so I continue. "When do you eat? I know that there is some kind of substitution for the Night Class since there aren't dead bodies around or turned people in the Day Class."_

"_Cross came up with a supplement," Kiryuu says quietly, looking somewhat shamed, "It has the same properties as blood and tastes like it."_

"_But it's not the same," I conclude, shoving my hands in my jean pockets, "and it's not satisfying." _

_He nods and slowly takes out a metal tin case from his inner jacket pocket. Without much permission, I take the case and pop it open. He jumps up to take it away from me, but I bat his outreaching arm without looking. The case is filled with small white pills that look like aspirin…or Altoids. No scent comes from it and I rattle the case around to look at how deep it is._

"_So you put this in water or something?"_

"_Yes."_

_So, it's like a bloody Kool-Aid. I glace at him and snap the tin shut without returning it. I bat his hand again and hold it instead, too easily. He's weak._

"_When was the last time you had one?" I ask, shaking the box, "You shouldn't be this easy to hold. I'm not even trying."_

"_It doesn't matter."_

"_It does." I push him easily back and he stumbles back on to his bed, glaring at me. "You're starving yourself…how do you take these?"_

"_I take them," he growls._

"How?_"I say in a low voice, "and I will know if you're lying to me."_

_He doesn't answer but he also doesn't look away. So he won't answer. Let's use some logic. He was turned unwillingly and was trained to kill what he has become from a young age. He hates vampires still to this day and these pills must be taken orally and mixed in water. Well, there is only one real way for him to take this another way, but that would be stupid. Then again…._

"_You just pop 'em," I conclude, shaking my head and tapping the box on my arm. "You do know how stupid that is, right?" He doesn't answer. "If this changes the chemical compounds of water, taking it dry is insane and horrible for you. It will try and change what water and other liquid you have into the supplement." I glare at him. "By the way, that won't kill you and neither will starving."_

_He doesn't change his expression, but I can feel him becoming less tense. I shake my head and look at the case._

"_It will just make it worse," I continue in a muted voice, "That subduing tattoo where you were bitten will only hold you back so far. Constant food will keep those beast-like urges in check."_

_His eyes widen and he reaches slowly for his weapon, but stops in mid motion._

"_I figured that one out, by the way. Logic and all that," I assure him and walk over to his sink. Snatching up a glass I fill it up with water and take out a single pill. I leave the case on the sink and walk back to the stunned boy. Taking a seat next to him, I hand him the glass. He takes it unwillingly. I nod towards the glass, making him look at it and I drop the pill in. The white thing trails a line of red and plops down in the bottom in a cloud of darkening red. His eyes dim and I can feel him wanting to throw the glass and hit me. My hand clasps on his chilled one so he can't let go and he snaps a look at me. Like hell I will back down._

"_It's scary how much you are like how I used to be," I say in a steady voice, grasping his hand harder, "You're doing what I did back then." His eyes tighten in confusion and I smile. "Let me tell you a little something, so you can get off my case a bit. We need to eat too. Not as in food. We need a different type of sustenance. When we were younger, we didn't know how to control our hunger and we didn't even know we were hungry. We had to shift something alive and not a plant. If we didn't, our energies would eat us alive."_

_I close my eyes for a second and continue. "I hated it. We all did. For us to live, we had to drain out life force, and that's like eating something's soul. I still hate it, but I still have to do it. Just like you need to drink this red stuff. Eventually, we worked it out that we only needed to drain something once a month to keep our strength and hunger stable. That's the longest we can wait, but we also drain whatever we have, we drain completely so it turns to dust." I shove the glass closer to him. "You better be damn happy that you can even have a substitute, 'cause I don't get one at all. And don't even get into the ethics of all this."_

_He looks at the glass in his hand and gains a sad face. There is no doubt that his resolve, if any, is about to collapse. _

"_You can't let that E part of you win out," I whisper, "Just like I can't let that E-Shifter part of me win. Don't let that hunger win."_

_I let go of his now warmed hand and wait for him to respond. Well, let's see how he will take to this. He looks at the red glass for a moment longer and places the glass of the floor. Crap. _

"_You can't imagine how hard it is to do this. Every time I see this on my neck," he says, pointing to the mark on his neck, "and look at this glass of blood, fake or not, I can feel what I've been turned in to. That bitch turned me into a monster."_

_He throws the glass and it shatters along the wall. Figured that would happen._

"_Don't be so hypocritical," I growl, snapping up his shirt and bringing him close, "What the hell do you think I am? Until six years ago, I couldn't touch anything but concrete walls and floors. I'm reminded because I can feel everyone move on this damn campus, even when I sleep. These black streaks." I grasp a black strand. "They're natural. I can't get rid of them and it's because I'm an E-Shifter. I was trained to be a monster and guess what? Hunters are the monsters to all non-human beings. I have the wonderful label of being both and now, so do you. Learn to live with yourself, because inner peace is so much more important than fucking labels, like the one you just gave yourself. You're only a monster if you make yourself be one."_

_I throw him back and get the second glass at the sink, tossing a hand towel over to the shattered glass, missing by a little. I flip the tin lid up and plop another pill in._

"_You better fucking start learning to live with yourself," I growl, "Or die right now, you whinny, hypocritical, weak bastard."_

_The glass hovers between us and he doesn't take it from my hand. A ragged sigh comes from him and he hangs his head. I can't know everything he feels and I know I won't be able to. I join him on the bed and add my own sigh. What does this stuff taste like? A small bout of curiosity takes over and a small sip enters my lips. I can feel him looking at me and I smack my lips._

"_It really is like Kool-Aid," I comment, surprised, "It just has a small tint of blood mixed with it."_

_He gives me an absurd look and he probably thinks I'm insane. With a shrug, I grin and say, "I'm vegan now."_

_Despite himself, Kiryuu smiles for a moment. "Seriously," I say, holding up the glass, "It tastes like a sugared-up fruit juice and someone accidentally dropped some blood in it. Tastes like liquid and dried out candy."_

_The snarl returns and looks away. God, this is going nowhere. I take another small mouthful of the drink and swish it loudly. He looks at me, but I ignore him. He needs to eat. If he can get past that, he can start to heal. Why am I so…interested in helping him? I don't usually do charity cases and I hate charity cases. Yes, this guy is pitiable and I know, at this point, he doesn't deserve pity nor does he deserve help. Here I am, though. I stop the swishing and know that I have to spit this out. _

_He keeps looking at me when an idea pops in my head. It's so stupid. Nope, this is a bad idea and I will not do it. Can't do it. Nope, not gonna. So why am I moving towards him? _

…_To hell with it._

_My hand cups the side of his face and my brow furrows in concentration. Once his attention is undivided, I close in and stick my lips on his. Kiryuu tenses and eyes widen, but he doesn't pull away. My eyes are going cross, so I shut them and wait. He pushes back after a moment and we both relax, his lilac eyes closing. I have never done this, so I wait for a second too._

_I situate the liquid in my mouth towards the back and hope none of it will spill out. The amount is little and shouldn't, but, again, I haven't done this before. Zero's hand reaches up to the back of my head and pulls me tighter. How does this work? Well, my instincts usually help me out, so I will follow them. The tip of my tongue finds his lips and lightly, clumsily runs on the crease of his mouth. Shakily, he opens his mouth and I take my chance. Close to instantly, my hand blocks on the back of his head so he can't move and I shove my tongue in enough to push his down. I lean forward and he leans back. The liquid runs down my mouth and I make sure it goes in his mouth and down his throat. Immediately, he tries to push me away, even going so far as to yank my hair. I press harder until it's all in there and, before letting him go, rub my tongue against his slowly, to make sure he can taste what the supplement tastes like._

_Relaxing, he flings me off the bed, eyes blazing red and teeth bare. Instead of getting up, I wipe my mouth and lean on my elbow. He breaths heavily, clutching the blanket, but doesn't move. Do something. Get angry. Tell me to leave. Drink the glass. Attack me. Do something! I hate it when people just sit there like that. No motion like that makes me uncomfortable. _

"_I'm not sorry," I say, still staying on the floor, "but you can't starve yourself. What do you think you're doing to Cross and Yuuki in this action?"_

_His grimace softens somewhat and I sit up and cross my legs. Jackpot._

"_I know you're angry," I say softly, "and I know you don't want to do this. But you're not the only one suffering from your actions. By doing this, you hurt others around you, Zero."_

_I slowly get up and his face turns thoughtful. After retrieving the glass, I sit next to him and hand him the glass._

"_Despite the liquid diet," I comment, leaning a little against him, "You're still Zero. This is just another part of you. The only one that is shunning you for this is you."_

_His glowing eyes zone in on me with too many emotions. _

"_If you don't want to live, drink for those who care about you," I mutter, pushing some silver hair from his face. "I promise this will hurt less if you do."_

_Shakily, he lifts the glass, but when he sees the color, he stops. I get behind him and hide his eyes with my hands, whispering to drink it. He tips the cup and gets half way before shaking again. My lips get close to his ear and I whisper not to stop, that he's almost done. Without another thought, and slams the rest back, his head knocking in my face a bit. Ow. Going to ignore the head butt to the nose. Coming from behind him, I smile and move the glass to his vision with a shake. Empty._

"_You'll feel better," I say and go to wash the cup out. After placing it next to the little tin box, I pick up the towel on the floor and clean up the first unfortunate cup. The loose and wet glass is dropped in the garbage can and another dry towel is laid over where extra shards might be._

_The entire time, he watches me and I come back to stand in front of him with my hands on my cocked hips._

"_Do you have any other questions?"_

"_Why…did you do that?" he says, dumbstruck. _

"_Do you have a better way to make someone drink something they don't want to?" I reply with a smile._

"_Is that it?"_

…_That's surprising. I shrug and tell him I'm not sure. That's the truth, too. My moral is to always get the job done, even if I just sacrificed my first kiss to do so. Despite my reasoning, I can't fathom a logical answer as to why I went so far for someone so…broken. He stands and towers over me, eyes hardening, but no longer red. _

"_And you're not sorry?" he confirms, coming closer. Too close._

"_No, I'm not," I reply with a nod, "and I won't be."_

_A pale hand seizes my shirt and cold lips slam down on me. The hand that automatically grabbed his tenses more. Oh. He's trying to see what I meant. My instincts take over again. Somewhere, I know I shouldn't push him away and it's not because I want to be moral support for him. My lips press on his, but I don't do anymore. That hard grip is still on my shirt. Another arm wraps around my lower back, yanking me closer and I can feel that the vampire instincts are kicking in. Without knowing it, my hand snakes up around his neck and wrench him down. This is different than before. Eventually, we break and look to one another with confusion. The vice grip lets go and his other arm is what holds me up. I'm not sure when I lost feeling in my legs, but thank God he isn't letting go. Face plant. I don't do face plants. _

"_We need to talk about this," he says, still holding on to me._

"_What do you want to talk about, besides this?" I ask, testing my legs and stand on them._

"_Anything."_

* * *

That's just what we did, too. We talked about anything and everything. Family, friends, places, food, politics, school, art, history, mutual hatred for Kaze and his class of doom, and what we want to do after all the drama is over. After that kiss of dinner, I'm still trying to figure out what possessed me to do that. Lord, if the girls get a hold of this information…the humiliation will never end. I can't lie to them though and they will find out. Stupid conflicts. With a kick to the harmless gravel, I head down the cafeteria to get some lunch. Angelica said she has something new about the rogue E-Shifter and we still need to put a new plan together. It's been very quiet, but we need to do another office rummage in town at the local Hunters' place. We have little doubt that the attack was from there, if the Hunters did send them. Those collars point to Hunters, but I won't rule out other people after this school or us.

I plop down next to Sarah and Kaitlin, not bothering to gather school food on a tray. Too tired and confused to eat right now. Sarah gives me a puzzled look and I just shrug in return. They will find out eventually. Angelica finally arrives after the Rena does and takes a seat with a solemn face. An interesting fact: When Angelica shows emotions, her face is shows a completely different story. This is usually very helpful during missions. A solemn face might mean thoughtful. Most of the time, anyway. Each of us glances between each other and at our tall friend.

"What's the good news, sweetheart?" Sarah asks lightly and kind of like Bugs Bunny.

"After the party and the foxes crashing it, I went to Ignacio, right?" she starts off rhetorically. When she's trying to understand something, she goes through the answered questions first. We all agree. "The night was interesting and I got some strange information out of him."

"Is it too strange to talk about here?" Kaitlin asks, sipping some milk.

"No, only the details can't be spoken aloud," she says, "His village banished him for killing everything, saying that he was the devil's child."

"That's not really strange," Sarah says indifferently.

"No, but what is strange is that his mother lived through the birth and was banished with him."

Someone drops something on the table as I stare at our tall friend.

"You're…joking, right," Rena nervously laughs, "That's not really possible, is it?"

How can it be? All of our mothers' died giving birth to use and were shriveled husks after the birth was completed. His mother was fine? And lived? It's true that we don't know much about our own kind, but none of our mothers' lived and that's five out of five known. Maybe just female E-Shifters kill the mother while males don't? Geez, I don't know what to do.

"Anything else you want to kill us with?" I mumble, really not ready for food now.

"His mother did take on an illness after they left," she continues, lacing her hands on the table, "I asked him what she looked like when she died and he said like a withered plant. He didn't have any physical contact with her at all."

"But she looked the same way our mothers' did at death?" Sarah asks in a small voice, "How strange. It must have been terrible for him."

"He isn't over it," Angelica says with a sad shake of her head, "he blames himself."

"Aren't we still like that?" I ask hoarsely, "Does he want to meet us yet?"

She sighs and leans back, looking down at the floor a bit.

"He wants it. I can see that. But his instincts are pushing him away from that want. Not yet, I don't think."

"Things are getting crazy," Rena mutters, rubbing her face and Kaitlin agrees with a grunt.

My finger taps my cheek. That seems like a good idea.

"We won't leave without him, when the time comes to leave," I announce, "Any objections?"

All of them shake their heads "no." Kaitlin asks if there is anything else informative and Angelica joking replies that he likes potato chips. Well, this random attack might have been a blessing as well as an annoyance. Now that Angelica has forced some trust upon this lone E-Shifter, he may come to trust us or Angelica at least, a little more.

"Did you tell him what happened? Why you had to be there with him?" Sarah asks, leaning on the table.

"He asked once," she replies, shaking her head, "but I didn't tell him anything. He kinda got the idea not to ask again and I didn't want to scare the poor guy. He's not used to what we go through or what can happen. This guy has no training whatsoever."

"Guess that will be fixed if he travels with us," Kaitlin comments in to her cup of water, "Getting him to come with us will be the problem."

With little thought, I lean my forehead on the table and push down to try and get rid of some annoyance rising. There is one issue that is causing us some problems.

"I take it that the new address thing isn't working out like you hoped?" Rena asks, knowingly. I let them know about Kiryuu's idea when we got together this morning for breakfast and I have been trying to do such all day.

"No," I mutter flatly, "and the only real problem there is happens to be the computers around here."

"So, what, we need to get a new one?" Angelica asks with a raised brow, "That doesn't seem like a problem."

"Except that there isn't a computer shop in town," Kaitlin says, looking disdained, "Aren't some stereotypes supposed to be true?"

"The clichés thwart us, it seems," Sarah says in a laugh.

"It needs to stop," I growl, sitting up and rubbing my redden skin, "We can't order anything online. It would take too long and leave too many trails."

"A simple solution, then," Rena says with a nod, "We go out to another town and buy one there."

"This would be a good time to do another circuit run," Kaitlin comments, shrugging, "But Ana and Sarah would be the ones going again."

"Naturally," Angelica replies, "The question is, whether or not we go into that Hunter's office again to see if there's anything worth taking or listening in to."

"Seems too risky after such a short time," Sarah saying with pursed lips, "I would rather not push it."

We fall into a thoughtful quietness until I clear my throat.

"As much as I would love to know what those imbeciles are up to," I start, "We need to make them think we're gone and that's by being as quiet as we can without being blind and deaf."

Our lunch ends on that note. We leave tomorrow for a circuit. At least this time, I know to bring more food with me so I won't run out again. Getting supplies together will be no problem. Telling Kuran will be.

"Hey, guys?" I start with my hands in my pockets. They all glance to me as we continue walking towards the Sun Dorms. "D'you think Kuran has been keeping up on his part of the deal about informing us?"

"Tch, hell no," Kaitlin spits out, twisting her head negatively, "Why would he report when he's not used to it and thinks he's too high and mighty for it."

Suppressing the wince, I nod. They don't know, but I know why Kuran most likely won't comply with our agreement.

"Dunno," Sarah signs, "Maybe, maybe not. He's hard to pin down."

"Perhaps," Angelica throws in, "If he holds honor to it."

I could see that one happening too.

Rena hesitates, showing her distrust and uneasiness of the question. Instead of a verbal answer, she shrugs her shoulders, giving us a pleading look. All of the answers are either "no's" or "maybes," all of which aren't comforting answers.

"I wasn't expecting any positive answers," I mumble, but shrug it off.

* * *

This is a bad idea. I know that. No rules are being broken really…just the unspoken protocol and…well, fine one rule is being broken. Not like all of us haven't broken this rule more than once when we're traveling together. Plus, I'm neither the first nor the last to climb the Moon Dorm walls. I will be one that succeeds, though. The girls are just going to kill me for coming here alone. But, it's better this way. Less flashiness and no need for a stare-down with the whole coven. Looking up to the bleak walls on a far side that isn't visited, I roughly rub my face and jump over the wall. My feet lightly hit the ground my hands don't even leave their pockets as I walk to where my senses tell me to. Since we leave tomorrow, I told them that Kuran would be told later that our circuit is about to happen. It is later, so I didn't lie.

After walking down the length of the wall, I come to a large window with a balcony on it. A light shines through, but it's only one or two lights that are on and not the overhead one. Their voices are filling my head with lectures already. In one way or another, they're all saying the same thing.

What possessed you to do this?

There are many sufficient answers to thwart this question. Of course those answers are logical. Between us, protocol is a small thing, but there are some rules we always obey. I just happen to be breaking one of the most important. We never, no matter what, go alone into dangerous territory for negotiations. My head shakes and a rough growl escapes my throat. Right now, this is just way easier. With little thought to it, I jump and land on the balcony railing. He isn't in here right now, so I'm not worried about jumping on a vampire at night. That, by the way, is one of the worst ideas in the world…learned that the hard way and have a scar from it.

Moonlight licks down on the window, but not enough to make a glare. After a quick check for traps and tripwires, I unlock the balcony doors and walk into Kuran's room. Wow, I might be a little stalker-ish at the moment. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time I broke into his room. Back then, I thought it was the last. Oh well. He is downstairs and talking to someone, I think, considering how close he is to a few other vampires. This might be a good opportunity to find those documents…no, but I will look around. While he's distracted, anyway. The desk holds nothing of importance and the drawer don't either. His bed wouldn't hide anything and even that item looks sparingly used. Of course he wouldn't keep anything written down unless it was necessary. And, no doubt, written items are stored some place much safer than here. Crap. It was worth a shot. Doesn't matter anyway, since he's coming up the stairs. With a practiced gait, I head back to the open balcony doors and wait with my back turned from the door and my hands in my pockets. The door quietly snaps shut.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here."

Papers are put down on the desk.

"Just here to keep my part of the agreement we placed," I reply through a sigh and continue to look out the window.

"This does bring back some certain memories."

Humor lightly laces his voice and I can't help but grin.

"Makes me feel like a stalker again. The only difference is the height between us."

He steps closer to me by a half foot and waits.

"Guess we have no more games to play now," I mutter and turn to him, "Things were a bit easier as kids."

"No they were not," Kuran replies with a shake of his head, "If anything, life was more complicated."

"Dunno, mine's kinda the same." A strange, nostalgic silence rises up with the moonlight and I clear my throat. "The reason for this unannounced visit is to act upon our latest agreement. Sarah and I will be making a circuit run in the morning."

"Hoping to catch those that sent the foxes?"

Instead of answering, I give him a noncommittal shrug. Perhaps it won't hurt to tell him that we're going for a computer and to see if we can hit Hunters on the way in hopes of securing the location that sent the foxes. Perhaps it won't be a bad thing to let him in on small details and let him know some basic facets from the skeleton of a plan he has in front of him.

Perhaps it will.

"That's really the only reason I came here," I say, dodging the question all together. He concedes.

"Why not let the gate guard know and why not bring your friends?"

"Why ask something you already know?" I murmur with a quirked brow.

A faint smile drifts to him for a second. "You wanted a simple meeting. Do your friends know about your excursion? All of them seem quite protective of you and I don't believe they would agree with you meeting me alone."

"No, just as your coven, or most of it, doesn't know I'm here," I agree, nodding, "I will tell them, though, the girls. And they will lecture me worse than a parent, I guarantee that."

"Why take the risk?" he questions, lifting one hand wide, "Why take all of these risks. I know you. There are too many minute risks that add up to a large one and you wouldn't act on it."

"Feeling impulsive, I guess." Shaking my head with a sigh, I continue. "Restless, too. About this time would be for me to take risks. Hunters are just a little too close now and I feel the need to do something. Old instincts never die, it seems."

"Clearly."

"As though you aren't fidgeting," I lightly accuse with a small grin, "You may be calm, but even you want to have this threat dealt with so you can resume your…'pacifism.'"

"You still don't believe me about that part, then."

I just give him a plain look and head towards the balcony. As I touch the railing, I pause.

"We've changed a lot," I state in a thick voice. "Was what we did to one another as children for the better or for the worse?"

He comes next to me, looking out over the wall surrounding the Moon Dorms.

"An impossible answer for an impossible question," Kuran replies in the same tone as mine.

"To be honest, I never once thought of you after the girls and I ran from the Hunters. No, never once did you cross my mind. I was so preoccupied with my escape and hatred for those bastards who imprisoned us that I only thought of the here and now. In a way, I still do." He glances at me for a moment, an unreadable look. "Since I came here and don't have much choice but to think of you, I understand that it was you that gave me the motivation to leave the Hunters. Whether I knew it or not at my young age, what I did to you for the Hunters and what you did to me for your family made me want to fight for different reasons and better terms. It makes me wonder what would have happened if I came to that little field of ours on time instead of thirty minutes later and we just played like normal little kids."

With a rough shake of my head, I leap over the railing and disappear into a dark mist that I create. He won't know it's my powers creating this mist since I did it in a shadow. With little thoughts to my one-sided conversation, I bound over the wall and to my awaiting girls. I need to be ready for a lecture…four to be exact. The grounds are quiet in the thriving of spring. Grass reaches high for the coming morning still hours off. Flowers nearly glow with color, exciting insects and bees to them though the bees are done for the night. So quiet and yet so busy.

I allow his hand to snap up my arm and to let him turn me around. There is no such thing as a quiet walk at night here.

"I should turn you in," he mutters, glowering at me in a weird way. I think it's a non-threatening glower. Maybe.

"But you won't," I reason, "Besides; you know that they won't come after me. The coven members may be dead, but they're not completely stupid."

"Why are you out here?" he demands quietly.

"Nice night out." Time to turn this conversation the other way around. "Having you been eating? Properly?" I snap out and cut off any fake answers.

"I'm trying," he states with a stoic face, "Half a glass a night."

"You need more than that," I respond, "I don't know if you have to eat three times a day, or not, but considering your level I would recommend two times."

"Is that all I am?" he snarls suddenly, his grip tightening, "Just a level?"

"No. But you can't die of starvation and you can't and won't let Cross and Yuuki down. In order to do that, you need to eat." I twist my caught arm over the outside of his and flex. His grip falls away as easy as a feather. That should prove my point.

"Then it's for protection for everyone around me?" he continues, "Are you afraid of what I will do if I'm not properly fed and sedated?"

"You're a caged animal if you choose," I say with some anger, "You're letting your hungry control you and without some kind of guidance, you let die in some stupid and useless way."

"I don't need your pity." His eyes light up from anger and some hatred.

Why is Kiryuu such an idiot?

"No, but you need sympathy," I retort and turn to him fully, "and guidance."

"Why are you helping me?" he taunts, getting closer, "Is it to make yourself feel better? Do you feel mighty and forgiving and a god when you help something as sad and broken as me? Why?"

He shoves me a bit and I let myself take a stumbling step back, vision to the dark grass.

"I'm not sure why I am helping you; Zero," I softly reply, "but you need it."

"That doesn't tell me a damn thing," he growls, too close to my face. I look up to his glowing red eyes, filled with rage just waiting to be let out.

"I help you out of…fear."

"Of me?" He gets ready to pounce.

"Of what you are becoming."

The answer staggers his rage for a moment and I use this deterred moment to continue.

"To those experienced, I can see what you are becoming and only through my hindsight. The moment you realize that you can never really be around people again because you're just a little off to them. The fact that you're diet requires too much out of the sentient meal and out of your conscience. When you let all the anger and hurt and fear build up because you have no way to battle it back; because there is no way…to know how to live with yourself and to control yourself.

"Zero, you are so much like how I was," I whisper and grab his hand, trying to make him understand, "I didn't care about my life. I never ate food or shifted when I needed to. When the time came for food or shifting, I was always forced, even when I got older. There was nothing I could do to stop them or myself. And I hated everything around me and in me. Naturally, many times I tried to kill myself, but was always stopped. Coincidently, I can't shift myself at all and so that route of death was taken from me. All of my anger, fear, doubt of life and the amount of pain tore me up. I still feel it, but I have learned to live with it. You need to accept that this is a part of you and learn to control it, or you will be tortured for the rest of your undead life. That is something I wish upon no one."

Why has tonight turned into a sop night? You know what; I'm blaming spring for churning up emotions and hormones. He takes a moment to look at me with a different light, a softer one I hope.

"Why were you at Kuran's room?" he passively questions. No doubt he will take what I said and think about it later.

"To tell him what I'm about to tell you," I inform him and drop his hand, now warm from my body heat. "Sarah and I are going on a circuit tomorrow. We feel it is long overdue. I ask that you let Cross know either tonight or tomorrow. We won't be back until late tomorrow night. How could you tell?"

"You have his scent on you. Why did you have to tell him?"

"A new part of our…treaty? I guess you can call it that. And I caught him in his room."

"You went to his room," he states, giving me a flat look, "by yourself in the middle of the night? That's stupid."

"Two vampires tell me that tonight," I say with a small grin, "and nine at night isn't the middle of the night. Three in the morning is thank you very much."

He smirks and shakes his head, red gone from his eyes.

"Just tell Cross," I say, moving away from him, "I have things to get together for tomorrow."

He seems to hesitate in some action, then just nods and walks away. Strange. This whole night has been strange.

* * *

"Thank you, Miss Golista. Here is your purchase and the insurance," the salesman says with a smile.

I smile back and thank him for his help. With new computer in tow, I head out of the small electronic shop and out to the town outskirts. Out of all the places I hit on this route, this was the only one with a computer shop. I flip my phones open and speed-dial Sarah. She picks up after the second ring.

"_What's up?"_

"Finally got the computer," I reply, hefting it up higher to the phone. Not sure why I did that. Not like she can see it.

"_Great! How far out are you?"_

"Give or take a few hours running." I stop for a moment and place the new purchase in the heavy duty backpack.

"_I will be back before you, then. D'you want me to call the girls to tell them of our upgrade, or should you do it?"_

"No, you do it," I say and swing the backpack on me again, "I'm not going to be so thorough for the last few places. All of them are just farming communities and I checked all possibilities for Hunter activity or places. There isn't anything for them to use out here; no electronic access anywhere. Not even phone service and no cell phone signal."

"_Sounds like a useless place," _she agrees, _"It could be a good place for training."_

"So close to farmers? Not likely and I'm not worried about it. Cut the head, cut the rest of the life, too. We just need to focus on those attacking us."

"_Alright, just be careful," _she sighs over the phone. My lips twist up to that.

"Yes, mother, I know," I gently mock, "You too. See you in a while."

She is still ticked off that I went off to Kuran's on my own. I jokingly told her that she always acted like my mother or overreacting older sister. That stopped her lecturing to a surprised stutter and the others laughing despite that I broke a rule.

After shutting the phone, I make for the oncoming woods and untraveled areas, running full on.

"C'mon, Ana!" Kaitlin nearly whines, "Tell us what name you used!"

I can't help but grin at Kaitlin's insistency. I nod; finally as we all hover of the new laptop.

"Don't laugh at me," I warned, holding up a finger, "I used the name Cornella Golista who lives on Rio de Alma in New Mexico."

Confused silence flitters by for a second.

"Golista?" Angelica asks.

"Yes."

"From that horrible mystery book?" Rena confirms, "The one about…'blossoming peach flowers?'"

I grin in full to answer. We all burst laughing at my strange choice to use a character's name and home address in a very horrible book we each decided to try and read. None of could finish the blasted thing, so we burnt it.

"Not that I disapprove," Rena says, gulping down some air, "But why that name and address?"

"Frankly? I forgot to make up a name before," I reply sheepishly.

This just brings in a new round of laughing and we quiet down some time.

"My God, that's awesome," Angelica says. She leans back and takes our dear, new computer in to her capable hands. Each of us will work on it, but she is the fastest typer out of all of us and the most accurate, which makes her the queen for hacking the systems next to Sarah. "What shall we name this thing?"

"Name it?" Kaitlin asks, plopping next to Angelica on the bed.

"Yeah, might as well," she shrugs and rubs the smooth, purple case. The brand is just a common one over here and I just got it because it won't burn up as quickly as others.

"Peach blossoms?" I throw out jokingly and get Rena to snort some laughter down.

"Hell to no," Sarah says next to me on the unmade bed in Angelica's room, "Something a little less of a catastrophic, if you please."

"What about…R.A.K.A.S.?" Rena pipes in thoughtfully, "It's the letters of our first names and it's the only order that doesn't sound too horrible."

"R.A.K.A.S. That doesn't sound so bad," I comment, rolling the word on my tongue. Sounds like something from a scifi book or something.

"Cool, so we have a name," Angelica says and starts the computer up, tapping her fingers on the keyboard, "But now that we named it, we'll be sadder to destroy it, if need be."

"We can deal," Sarah says with a grin, "On to more important matters. Angelica dear, you've been keeping something from us about what happened with you and Ignacio the other night."

She pauses for a moment and tries to divert the conversation to choosing a password.

"C'mon Angelica," I drag out with a grin, "Show and tell time."

"You're no better," Sarah says, pointing a finger at me, "You both will spill or no dinner!"

I look at Angelica and ask, "Can she do that?"

"Do we have the power to stop her?" my friend replies grudgingly. _  
_


End file.
